Macron calls for calm amid French pension fury before crucial votes

Protesters chant slogans in Paris, Sunday, March 19, 2023. (AP)
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Updated 20 March 2023
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Macron calls for calm amid French pension fury before crucial votes

  • The government’s decision last week to resort to Article 49.3 of the constitution to force the bill through parliament without a vote has prompted anger in the streets after weeks of mostly peaceful protests

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday he hoped his bitterly contested pensions reform plan, forced through parliament without a vote, could complete “its democratic journey,” a day before crucial votes in parliament.
The controversial legislation, which has led to months of protests in parliament and on the streets, will be adopted in parliament Monday unless either of two motions of no-confidence in the government passes.
“After months of political and social consultation and more than 170 hours of debate which resulted in the vote of a compromise text between the (two parliamentary chambers)...,” Macron expressed his wish “that the text on pensions can go to the end of its democratic journey with respect for all.”
His words came in a statement issued by the president’s office to AFP.
If passed, Macron’s reform would raise the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 as well as increasing the number of years people must pay into the system to receive a full pension.
The government’s decision last week to resort to Article 49.3 of the constitution to force the bill through parliament without a vote has prompted anger in the streets after weeks of mostly peaceful protests.
Two leading members of the right-wing Republicans party, whose leader has said they will not support no-confidence motions, reported threats and intimidation against them Sunday.
Monday’s two no-confidence motions have been filed by a small group of centrist MPs and the far-right National Rally.
If the no-confidence motions fall, as most observers expect will happen, left-wing deputies have said they will appeal to the Constitutional Council, to challenge the way the government forced through the reform.
“There will be no majority to bring the government down, but it will be a moment of truth,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said of the two efforts to unseat the cabinet planned for Monday afternoon.


The government’s decision last week to resort to Article 49.3 of the constitution — which allows for the forcing of a bill through parliament without a vote — led to a fourth consecutive day of protests on Sunday.
“I’m overwhelmed with a feeling of immense anger,” Isabelle Desprez, a 54-year-old maths teacher demonstrating in the northern city of Lille, told AFP.
Laurent Berger, head of the moderate CFDT union, told Liberation newspaper: “We went from the feeling of being despised to a feeling of anger, in particular because we deprived employees of the result of their protests.”
“The growing resentment and anger must serve the demonstrations in a peaceful framework and not be politically exploited,” he added.
A ninth day of strikes and protests is planned for Thursday.
Police on Saturday closed Paris’ Place de la Concorde opposite parliament for demonstrations following two successive nights of clashes.
Some 122 people were arrested as some set rubbish bins on fire, destroyed bus stops and erected improvised barricades around a 4,000-strong demonstration in the capital.
On Sunday, police arrested another 17 people as protesters invaded the Les Halles shopping complex in central Paris.
Away from the streets of major cities, the CGT said Saturday that workers would shut down France’s largest oil refinery in Normandy, warning that two more could follow on Monday.
So far, strikers have only prevented fuel deliveries from leaving refineries but not completely halted operations.
Industrial action has also halted rubbish collection in much of Paris, with thousands of tons of waste now on the streets, even as the government forces some binmen back to work using requisition powers.
The government says the pensions reforms are needed to avoid crippling deficits in the coming decades linked to France’s aging population.
“Those among us who can will gradually need to work more to finance our social model, which is one of the most generous in the world,” Le Maire said.
But opponents of the reform say the law places an unfair burden on low earners, women and people doing physically wearing jobs, and polls have consistently showed majorities opposed to the changes.
On Monday over half a million high school students will begin the first day of the 2023 Baccalaureat exams, against a backdrop of strike threats by supervisors.

 


Putin says hit Ukraine with new mid-range ballistic missile

Updated 15 sec ago
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Putin says hit Ukraine with new mid-range ballistic missile

Putin said in a televised address that Russia carried out “testing in combat conditions of one of the newest Russian mid-range missile systems”
Russia struck the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro with a barrage of missiles early Thursday

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the country’s forces had hit Ukraine with a new mid-range ballistic missile.
Putin said in a televised address that Russia carried out “testing in combat conditions of one of the newest Russian mid-range missile systems... Our engineers named it Oreshnik,” which means hazel tree in Russian.
Russia struck the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro with a barrage of missiles early Thursday.
The Ukrainian air force and President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of apparently using an intercontinental ballistic missile, while Ukrainian experts were still examining the evidence to ascertain the type of missile used.
Putin said in his address that Russia launched a combined strike on a defense industry target in Ukraine.
He described Oreshnik as a “ballistic missile” that was deployed in this case “in a non-nuclear hypersonic configuration,” saying that the “test” had been successful and had hit its target.
Air defenses cannot intercept the Oreshnik, which attacks at a speed of Mach 10, or 2.5-3 kilometers per second, Putin said.
“Modern air defense systems... cannot intercept such missiles. That’s impossible,” he said.
“As of today there are no means of counteracting such a weapon,” the president boasted.
He said Russia was testing the Oreshnik in combat conditions “in response to the aggressive actions of NATO countries toward Russia.”

UK urged to honor ICC’s arrest warrants against Israeli leaders

Updated 23 min 45 sec ago
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UK urged to honor ICC’s arrest warrants against Israeli leaders

  • Warrants issued on Thursday against Israel’s ministers, officials of Hamas

LONDON: The British government has been urged by the Council for Arab-British Understanding to immediately honor International Criminal Court arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The ICC issued the warrants on Thursday for Netanyahu, Gallant, and an official of Hamas, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the war in Gaza and the attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, that triggered Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian territory.

CAABU director Chris Doyle emphasized the gravity of the situation, accusing the UK government of failing to hold Israel accountable for its actions in violation of international law.

Doyle said: “This decision highlights how woefully the UK government has handled the situation of Israeli atrocities and war crimes.

“It now must demonstrate, with concrete action, that this government will honor its pledge to uphold respect for international law and the ICC by abiding in full with the ICC decision.”

Doyle also called for immediate measures, including a full arms embargo on Israel, the cessation of military and security cooperation, and an end to arms sales while atrocities were allegedly being carried out in Gaza.

CAABU warned that failure to comply with the ICC’s warrants could severely damage the UK’s international standing, making it complicit in alleged crimes against humanity, including forced displacement, apartheid, and genocide.

“The UK’s reputation globally would be trashed,” Doyle cautioned.

The organization stressed that the ICC’s warrants represented a crucial step toward justice and accountability for Palestinians. However, Doyle stressed the need for swift action.

He said: “There is no time to wait; justice delayed is justice denied. The UK needs to uphold international law, accountability, and ensure justice with immediate effect by complying with these arrest warrants.”

The UK government has yet to issue a formal response to the ICC’s decision.


UK says it respects ICC independence as court issues arrest warrants

Updated 21 November 2024
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UK says it respects ICC independence as court issues arrest warrants

  • PM Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said: “We remain focused on pushing for an immediate ceasefire to bring an end to the devastating violence in Gaza”

LONDON: Britain respects the independence of the International Criminal Court, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said on Thursday, after it issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his ex-defense chief and a Hamas leader.
“We respect the independence of the International Criminal Court, which is the primary international institution for investigating and prosecuting the most serious crimes of international concern,” the spokesperson told reporters.
“There is no moral equivalence between Israel, a democracy, and Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah, which are terrorist organizations. We remain focused on pushing for an immediate ceasefire to bring an end to the devastating violence in Gaza.”


Russia fires what appears to be intercontinental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Kyiv says

Updated 21 November 2024
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Russia fires what appears to be intercontinental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Kyiv says

  • Western officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, later told Reuters their initial analysis showed it was not an intercontinental ballistic missile
  • Regardless of its classification, the latest strike highlighted rapidly rising tensions in the 33-month-old war

KYIV: Ukraine said Russia fired what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile at the city of Dnipro on Thursday, in what would be the first use in war of a weapon designed to deliver long-distance nuclear strikes.
Western officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, later told Reuters their initial analysis showed it was not an intercontinental ballistic missile, though they left open the possibility that conclusion could change.
Regardless of its classification, the latest strike highlighted rapidly rising tensions in the 33-month-old war.
Ukraine fired US and British missiles at targets inside Russia this week despite warnings by Moscow that it would see such action as a major escalation.
Security experts said that if Thursday’s strike involved an intercontinental ballistic missile, it would be the first use of such a missile in war. ICBMs are strategic weapons designed to deliver nuclear warheads and are an important part of Russia’s nuclear deterrent.
“Today there was a new Russian missile. All the characteristics – speed, altitude – are (of an) intercontinental ballistic (missile). An expert (investigation) is currently underway,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video statement.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry urged the international community to react swiftly to the use of what it said was “the use by Russia of a new type of weaponry.”
The Ukrainian air force said the missile was fired from the Russian region of Astrakhan, more than 700 km (435 miles) from Dnipro in central-eastern Ukraine. It did not specify what kind of warhead the missile had or what type of missile it was. There was no suggestion it was nuclear-armed.
Asked about the air force statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters to contact Russian military for comment.
Ukrainska Pravda, a Kyiv-based media outlet, cited anonymous sources saying the missile was an RS-26 Rubezh, a solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 5,800 km, according to the Arms Control Association.
The RS-26 was first successfully tested in 2012, and is estimated to be 12 meters (40 ft) long and weigh 36 tons, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). It said the RS-26 can carry an 800-kg (1,765-pound)nuclear warhead.
The RS-26 is classified as an ICBM under a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia, but it can be seen as an intermediate-range ballistic missile when used with heavier payloads at ranges below 5,500 km, CSIS said.


At least 38 killed as gunmen open fire on vehicles carrying Shiites in northwest Pakistan

Updated 21 November 2024
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At least 38 killed as gunmen open fire on vehicles carrying Shiites in northwest Pakistan

  • No one immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attack
  • Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said at least 38 people were killed in the “terrorist attack“

PESHAWAR: Gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying Shiite Muslims in Pakistan’s restive northwest on Thursday, killing at least 38 people, including six women, and wounding 20 others in one of the region’s deadliest such attacks in recent years, police said.
The attack happened in Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where sectarian clashes between majority Sunni Muslims and minority Shiites have killed dozens of people in recent months.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attack. It came a week after authorities reopened a key highway in the region that had been closed for weeks following deadly clashes.
Local police official Azmat Ali said several vehicles were traveling in a convoy from the city of Parachinar to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, when gunmen opened fire. He said at least 10 passengers were in critical condition at a hospital.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said at least 38 people were killed in the “terrorist attack.” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack, and Sharif said those behind the killing of innocent civilians will not go unpunished.
A witness, 35-year-old Mir Hussain, said he saw four gunmen emerge from a vehicle and open fire on buses and cars.
“I think other people were also firing at the convoy of vehicles from nearby open farm field,” he said. “The firing continued for about 40 minutes.” He said he hid until the attackers fled.
“I heard cries of women, and people were shouting for the help,” he said.
Baqir Haideri, a local Shiite leader, denounced the assault and said the death toll was likely to rise.
Shop owners in Parachinar announced a strike on Friday to protest the attack.
Shiite Muslims make up about 15 percent of the 240 million population of Sunni-majority Pakistan, which has a history of sectarian animosity between the communities.
Although they live together largely peacefully, tensions have existed for decades in some areas, especially in parts of Kurram, where Shiites are the majority. Nearly 50 people from both sides were killed over a land dispute in July when clashes between Sunni and Shiites erupted in Kurram.
Pakistan is tackling violence in the northwest and southwest, where militants and separatists often target police, troops and civilians. Most of the violence in these areas has been blamed on the Pakistani Taliban and the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army.