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Russia Votes In Parliament Election Without Main Opposition

By
Zoe Maven
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Russia is holding three days of voting this weekend in a parliamentary election that is unlikely to change the country’s political complexion.

There’s no expectation that United Russia, the party devoted to President Vladimir Putin, will lose its dominance of the State Duma, the elected lower house of parliament.

The main questions to be answered are whether the party will retain its current two-thirds majority that allows it to amend the constitution; whether anemic turnout will dull the party’s prestige; and whether imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s Smart Voting initiative proves to be a viable strategy against it.

Putin, however, on Thursday urged Russians to vote, saying in a video message that “election of (the Duma’s) new composition is undoubtedly the most important event in the life of our society and country.”

With 14 parties fielding candidates for half of the Duma’s 450 seats that are chosen by party list, the election has a veneer of being genuinely competitive. But the three parties aside from United Russia that are expected to clear the 5% support necessary to get a seat rarely challenge the Kremlin.

The Kremlin wants control over the new parliament, which will still be in place in 2024, when Putin’s current term expires and he must decide on running for reelection or choosing some other strategy to stay in power.

The other half of the seats are chosen in individual constituencies, where independent candidates or those from small parties such as the liberal Yabloko may have stronger chances. These seats are also where the Navalny team’s Smart Voting strategy could make inroads.

UN Chief Urges ‘Rapid’ Emission Cuts To Curb Climate Change

By
Zoe Maven
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The head of the United Nations on Thursday called for “immediate, rapid and large-scale” cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to curb global warming and avert climate disaster.

Ahead of the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting next week, Antonio Guterres warned governments that climate change is proceeding faster than predicted and fossil fuel emissions have already bounced back from a pandemic dip.

Speaking at the launch of a U.N.-backed report summarizing current efforts to tackle climate change, Guterres said recent extreme weather showed no country is safe from climate-related disasters.

He said these changes are just the beginning of worse to come and appealed to governments to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate accord.

In their report, titled United in Science 21, six U.N. bodies and scientific organizations drew on existing research to argue that there is a direct link between human-caused emissions, record high temperatures and disasters that have a tangible impact on individuals and societies, including “billions of work hours  lost through heat alone.”

Because of the long-lasting effects of many emissions already released into the atmosphere, further impacts are inevitable, they noted.

The Authors wrote that Even with ambitious action to slow greenhouse gas emissions, sea levels will continue to rise and threaten low-lying islands and coastal populations throughout the world,”.

Burundi Rights Abuses Worsening Under New Govt, UN

By
Zoe Maven
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United Nations investigators say despite Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye’s pledges to end repression, the human rights situation in the East African country has worsened in the 15 months since he took office.

Ndayishimiye’s election last year had raised hopes of a more open political environment emerging after many years of violence and severe rights violations in the troubled nation.

But in a report released Thursday, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Burundi said that although the authorities appeared to have eased some restrictions, conditions had actually worsened for opposition parties, journalists and NGOs, which are facing a renewed crackdown.

The UN statement said members of opposition parties… are still regularly targeted by abusive restrictions and are subject to grave human rights violations such as disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detentions and torture.

Observers had hoped that Ndayishimiye’s government would help the country turn a corner and improve its human rights record, but UN investigators said Burundian security forces were still committing violations.

Burundi has been in crisis since 2015, when then president Pierre Nkurunziza ran for a third term and was re-elected in polls boycotted by most of the opposition.

At least 1,200 people were killed and more than 400,000 forced into exile as a result of violence which the UN says was mostly carried out by state security forces.

Marks & Spencer Shuts France Stores On Brexit Fallout

By
Zoe Maven
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British retailer Marks and Spencer said Thursday it planned to shut more than half its stores in France with Brexit affecting supplies of fresh and chilled products.

Announcing the closure of 11 out of 20 franchise stores, the food-to-clothing retailer said in a statement that “the lengthy and complex export processes… following the UK’s exit from the European Union are significantly constraining” supplies.

Paul Friston, managing director of the British company’s international arm, added that while it will shut all 11 franchise stores with partner SFH in France over the coming months, the nine franchise stores with partner Lagardere Travel Retail will remain open across airports and train stations”M&S has a long history of serving customers in France and this is not a decision we or our partner SFH have taken lightly,”

Marks said it planned to close the mainly Paris stores by the end of the year.

Already following Britain’s formal EU exit at the start of the year, Marks has reconfigured its food business in Czech Republic, removing the sale of all fresh and chilled products from stores.

It comes as British businesses across various sectors are struggling with deliveries as the pandemic and Brexit result in a shortage of lorry drivers.

Consequently, Britain on Tuesday said it would push back its implementation of full post-Brexit borders checks on goods from the European Union, as Covid, red tape and new immigration rules fuel supply problems.

Rights Group Accuses Egypt’s Security Of Intimidation Tactics

By
Zoe Maven
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A global human rights group Thursday accused Egypt’s main domestic security agency of harassing and intimidating rights advocates and activists to silence them.

The Amnesty International report was the latest rebuke to Egypt’s government, which faces increasing pressure from the U.S. to improve its human rights record.

The rights group said the National Security Agency was “increasingly using a well-honed pattern of unlawful summons, (and) coercive questioning” of activists in practices amounting to “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

The London-based group said it documented how the agency, which handles terror-related and political cases, used such measures to “control the lives” of at least 26 people, including seven women, between 2020 and 2021.

The report is titled: “This will only end when you die,” in reference to what one activist was told of her regular summons to the agency.

Amnesty did not disclose the names of those activists. The NSA is overseen by the Interior Ministry. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has in the past maintained that his country has no political prisoners.

Egypt’s government has in recent years waged a wide-scale crackdown on dissent, jailing thousands of people, mainly Islamists, but also secular activists involved in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Many people have been imprisoned on terrorism charges, for breaking a ban on protests or for disseminating false news.

Nigeria probes report air force killed civilians

By
Henry Williams
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Nigeria’s air force says it is now investigating reports that shots fired from one of its aircraft killed civilians in the north-east of the country.

In a statement it retracted its earlier denial, which we reported on, saying it was based on incorrect reports that those who died were killed in a bombing adding that the aircraft involved was not carrying any bombs.

Spokesperson Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet said that there had been intelligence reports of militant activity and an aircraft was sent to respond in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Nigeria kidnappings: One million children to miss school

By
Henry Williams
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One million Nigerian children will likely stay away from school because of the threat of violence after a series of mass kidnappings and attacks targeting students this year, the UN said on Wednesday.

More than 1,000 pupils have been snatched in mass abductions for ransom by criminal gangs in Nigeria’s north-west and central states since December with dozens still in captivity.

Some of the state governments have temporarily shut schools after the abductions.

As schools resume this month, the UN children’s agency Unicef says many children will be cut off from their education and other vital benefits schools provide.

Chad rebels clash with Gen Haftar’s forces in Libya

By
Henry Williams
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Libyan forces loyal to the eastern-based commander, General Khalifa Haftar, have been clashing in the south of the country with rebels from neighbouring Chad.

Gen Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army said it had carried out air strikes.

The rebels, from a group called the Front for Change and Concord in Chad, said their positions on the border between the two countries had been attacked.

It claimed French forces allied with Gen Haftar had been involved. France denies this.

Analysts say the fighting is another example of the instability of the Sahel region, where a range of armed groups operate across borders.

UN urges resumption of talks over Ethiopia dam row

By
Henry Williams
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The United Nations has urged Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan to resume talks to resolve the dispute over the Nile dam “within a reasonable time frame”.

A UN Security Council statement noted on Wednesday that the three nations should restart the negotiations at the invitation of the African Union’s chairperson “to finalise expeditiously the text of mutually acceptable and binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam”.

The 15-member Security Council also invited observers acceptable to the three countries to support the process.

The dam project on the Blue Nile has caused tension between Ethiopia and its neighbours, with Egypt and Sudan worried about droughts and water security.

Egypt sees it as an existential issue as it relies almost entirely on the river for its water supply.

Ethiopia sees the dam as a way to bring electricity to millions of its citizens.

The dam is almost complete and due to start generating an initial 750 megawatts of electricity in a month.

Head of Islamic State in Sahara killed by French troops – Macron

By
Henry Williams
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The head of the Islamic State group in the Sahara has been killed by French troops, President Emmanuel Macron has said. Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi formed Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) in 2015.

The group is blamed for most attacks in the region, including the targeted killing of French aid workers in 2020.

Macron called Sahrawi’s death “another major success in our fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel”.

The Sahel is a vast, three million sq km (1.16 million sq miles) area that stretches across Africa south of the Sahara desert, from Senegal in the west to Somalia in the east.

Macron did not disclose the location or any details of the operation.

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