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Lebanon slipped deeper into a political crisis Sunday as politicians struggled to form a government.
Tens of thousands Lebanese took to the streets in cities and towns across the country to demand a complete overhaul of the political class. Protesters have accused political leaders of corruption and are demanding social and economic reforms and adequate basic services.
The political crisis grew worse after the former finance minister Mohammad Safadi withdrew his name from consideration for prime minister. In a statement released by his office, Safadi said outgoing Prime Minister Sa’ad al-Hariri should be re-appointed to the post.
Hariri quit on October 29 after weeks of protests.
On Sunday, Hariri blamed the protests and the lack of a government on President Michel Aoun’s party, calling its policies “irresponsible regarding that national crisis that they country is passing through.”
Aoun’s party responded by saying that Hariri wants to dominate the new Cabinet.
Tens of thousands continued the protests as the top politicians traded barbs. Crowds gathered outside the prime minister’s office chanted, “The people want to bring down the regime.”
The protests in Lebanon have been violence free compared to other parts of the world. Military officials patrolled the streets but have said they will not stop the demonstrations.
Army chief General Joseph Aoun said, “We did not stop anyone who is protesting in squares, but when they want to close roads and harass people we will intervene.”
Iran’s supreme leader Sunday backed the government’s decision to raise gasoline prices and called angry protesters who have been setting fire to public property over the hike “bandits,” signaling a potential crackdown on the demonstrations.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments came as authorities apparently shut down the internet across Iran to smother the protests in about two dozen cities and towns over the rise of government-set prices by 50% as of Friday.
Since the hike, demonstrators have abandoned their cars along major highways and joined mass protests in the capital, Tehran, and elsewhere. Some protests turned violent, with demonstrators setting fires and there was also gunfire.
It remains to be seen how many people have been injured, killed or arrested. Authorities on Saturday said only one person was killed, though other videos from the protests have shown people gravely wounded.
Protesters are seen on a street in Khorramshahr, Iran, in this Nov. 16, 2019, image from video aired by Iran’s Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting state television channel.
State television address
In an address aired by state television Sunday, Khamenei said “some people had died and some centers destroyed,” without elaborating. He called violent protesters “bandits” who had been pushed into violence by counterrevolutionaries and foreign enemies of Iran.
However, he made a point to back the decision of Iran’s relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani and others to raise gasoline prices. Gasoline in the country still remains among the cheapest in the world, with the new prices jumping up to a minimum of 15,000 rials per liter of gas — up 50% from the day before. That’s 13 cents a liter, or about 50 cents a gallon. On average a gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S. costs $2.60 by comparison.
Khamenei ordered security forces “to implement their tasks” and for Iran’s citizens to keep clear of violent demonstrators.
That seemed to indicate a possible crackdown could be looming. Economic protests in late 2017 into 2018 were met by a heavy reaction by the police and the Basij, the all-volunteer force of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
Cars block a street during a protest against a rise in gasoline prices, in the central city of Isfahan, Iran, Nov. 16, 2019.
Protests largely peaceful
The protests have put renewed pressure on Iran’s government as it struggles to overcome U.S. sanctions strangling the country’s economy since President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers over a year ago.
Though largely peaceful, the latest demonstrations devolved into violence in several instances, with online videos purporting to show police officers firing tear gas at protesters and mobs setting fires.
While representing a political risk for Rouhani ahead of February parliamentary elections, they also show widespread anger among Iran’s 80 million people who have seen their savings evaporate amid scarce jobs and the collapse of the national currency, the rial.
Cheap gasoline is practically considered a birthright in Iran, home to the world’s fourth-largest crude oil reserves. Rouhani had been pushing for higher prices to offer payments to the poor for months. While the hike was eventually expected, the decision to raise gasoline prices still caught many by surprise and sparked immediate demonstrations overnight.
Smoke rises during a protest after authorities raised fuel prices, in the central city of Isfahan, Iran, Nov. 16, 2019.
Internet outages
Iranian internet access meanwhile saw disruptions and outages Friday night into Saturday, according to the group NetBlocks, which monitors worldwide internet access. By Saturday night, “real-time network data show connectivity has fallen to just 7% of ordinary levels following 12 hours of progressive network disconnections as public protests have continued across the country,” NetBlocks said.
“The ongoing disruption is the most severe recorded in Iran since President Rouhani came to power, and the most severe disconnection tracked by NetBlocks in any country in terms of its technical complexity and breadth,” the group said. The websites of state media outlets appeared affected by the outage early Sunday.
Protester chants seen in online videos mirrored many from the economic protests in late 2017, which resulted in nearly 5,000 reported arrests and at least 25 people killed. Some criticized Iran’s spending abroad on Palestinians and others while the country’s people remain poor.
The tensions in Iran came as weeks of anti-government protests have engulfed Iraq and Lebanon, two Mideast nations that are home to Iranian proxies and crucial to Tehran’s influence abroad.
Iran long has suffered economic problems since its 1979 Islamic Revolution cut off the country’s decades-long relationship with the U.S. Iran’s eight-year war with Iraq in the 1980s followed, further straining its economy.
The collapse of the nuclear deal has exacerbated those problems. The Iranian rial, which traded at 32,000 to $1 at the time of the accord, fell to 122,600 to $1 in trading on Saturday. Iran has since begun breaking terms of the deal as it tries to force Europe to come up with a way to allow it to sell crude oil abroad despite American sanctions.
Sri Lanka’s former wartime defense chief Gotabaya Rajapaksa was set to become president after his main rival conceded defeat Sunday in an election that came months after bombings by Islamist militants threw the country into turmoil.
Rajapaksa oversaw the military defeat of Tamil separatists under his brother and then president Mahinda Rajapaksa 10 years ago. He has promised strong leadership to secure the island of 22 million people, the majority of whom are Sinhalese Buddhists.
Rajapaksa, 70, would be the latest nationalist leader swept to power across the world, tapping into the anger and fears of majority communities.
He and his brothers, who are expected to get key positions, are also seen as closer to China, which has invested billions of dollars building ports, expressways and power stations.
But these projects have also led to high debt levels for Sri Lanka.
Conciliatory tone
In his first comments, Rajapaksa struck a conciliatory note, suggesting he would be a leader of all Sri Lankans, regardless of their ethnic and religious identities.
“As we usher in a new journey for Sri Lanka, we must remember that all Sri Lankans are part of this journey. Let us rejoice peacefully, with dignity and discipline in the same manner in which we campaigned,” Rajapaksa said in a tweet.
Tamil political parties are strongly opposed to Rajapaksa, who has faced allegations of widespread human rights violations of civilians in the final stages of the war against the separatists in 2009.
Rajapaksa and his brother deny the allegations.
Muslims, the other large minority group, say they too have faced hostility since the April attacks on hotels and churches in which more than 250 people were killed. Islamic State claimed responsibility.
With half the votes counted from Saturday’s election, Rajapaksa led with 50.7 percent, while his main rival Sajith Premadasa had 43.8 percent, the election commission said.
Conceding defeat
Premadasa, a housing minister in the current government that has faced criticism for failing to protect Sri Lankans in the wake of the suicide bombings in April, conceded defeat.
“At the conclusion of a hard fought and spirited election campaign, it is my privilege to honor the decision of the people and congratulate Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa on his election as the seventh President of Sri Lanka,” Premadasa said.
Millions voted to elect a new president to lead the country out of its deepest economic slump in more than 15 years, dragged down by its tourism sector following the bombings.
His victory margin showed huge support in the Sinhalese-dominated southern parts of the island.
Premadasa, who campaigned on policies to help the poor, led in the north and east where minority Tamils are predominant.
He urged Rajapaksa to ensure he took all Sri Lankans along and not target those who opposed him in the election.
“I also urge Mr. Rajapaksa to ensure that the post-election environment is peaceful, and that no citizen or New Democratic Party supporter is persecuted or harmed for their role in supporting my candidacy,” he said, referring to his party.
The United States and South Korea announced Sunday they will postpone upcoming military drills in an effort to bolster a stalled peace push with North Korea, even as Washington denied the move amounted to another concession to Pyongyang.
The drills, known as the Combined Flying Training Event, would have simulated air combat scenarios and involved an undisclosed number of warplanes from the United States and South Korea.
In deference to Pyongyang, the exercises had already been reduced in scale and scope from previous years, but North Korea still objected to them regardless.
Effort to enable peace
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the U.S. and South Korean militaries would remain at a high state of readiness despite the move, and he denied that the decision to postpone the drills was a concession to North Korea.
“I don’t see this as a concession. I see this as a good faith effort … to enable peace,” Esper told reporters, as he announced the decision standing alongside South Korean counterpart Jeong Kyeong-doo in Bangkok, where Asian defense chiefs are gathered for talks.
The drills were meant to begin in the coming days.
Earlier this month, a senior North Korean diplomat blamed the U.S. joint aerial drill for “throwing cold water” over talks with Washington. Pyongyang regularly opposes such U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises, viewing them as a rehearsal for invasion.
US urges resumption of talks
Still, it was unclear whether the decision by Washington and Seoul would kickstart talks with Pyongyang aimed at getting the reclusive state to give up its nuclear weapons program.
Esper said he hoped North Korea would respond to the gesture.
“We encourage the DPRK to demonstrate the same goodwill as it considers decisions on conducting training, exercises and testing,” he said, using the acronym for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “We also urge the DPRK to return to the negotiating table without precondition or hesitation.”
North Korea missile tests
As talks stall, North Korea has tested the limits of engagement with a string of missile launches, and experts warn that the lack of a concrete arms control agreement has allowed the country to continue producing nuclear weapons.
The missile tests have practical value for the North Korean military’s efforts to modernize its arsenal. But they also underscore Pyongyang’s increasingly belligerent position in the face of what it sees as an inflexible and hostile United States.
The U.S.-South Korea exercises had already been scaled back from 2017, when it was called Vigilant Ace. Vigilant Ace had more than 230 aircraft, including six F-22 Raptor stealth fighters, and around 12,000 U.S. service members.
Asked when the United States and South Korea would hold the postponed drills, South Korea’s Jeong declined to offer any sense of timing, saying only that it would be decided through “close coordination” with Washington.
Prince Andrew offered a detailed rebuttal Saturday to claims he had sex with a woman who says she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein, providing an alibi for one of the alleged encounters and questioning the authenticity of a well-known photograph that shows him posing with the woman.
In a rare interview with BBC Newsnight, Andrew categorically denied having sex with the woman, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, saying, “It didn’t happen.”
He said he has “no recollection” of ever meeting her and told an interviewer there are “a number of things that are wrong” about Giuffre’s account.
Giuffre has said Epstein forced her to have sex with Andrew in 2001 when she was 17. She says Epstein flew her around the world on his private planes to have sex with powerful men, and that she had sexual encounters with Andrew in London and New York and in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened,” Andrew said.
A request for comment was sent to Giuffre’s representative. Giuffre recently challenged the British royal to speak out, telling reporters in New York, “He knows exactly what he’s done.”
“And the answer is nothing,” Andrew told BBC.
High-stakes interview
Andrew’s decision to grant the interview was seen in Britain as a high-stakes gamble in a country where the royals don’t normally talk with reporters on subjects beyond their charitable works.
The nation’s newspapers, most of which featured photos from the interview along with the pre-released excerpts on their front pages Saturday, speculated that the prince thought he had no other choice after months of tawdry headlines that threatened his ability to continue working as a royal.
Disputes photo, other claims
In the wide-ranging interview, Andrew suggested a photograph Giuffre produced of her posing with Andrew could have been doctored, saying he “can’t be certain” that it actually shows his hand on the woman’s side.
He said he was “at a loss to explain” the image, adding he is not given to public displays of affection. He said it also shows him wearing “traveling clothes,” noting he typically wears a suit and tie when he goes out in London, where the photograph purportedly was taken.
“I’m afraid to say that I don’t believe that photograph was taken in the way that has been suggested,” he said. “If the original was ever produced, then perhaps we might be able to solve it but I can’t.”
Confronted with details of Giuffre’s claims, Andrew insisted he was home with his children on one of the nights Giuffre claims they had sex, saying it “couldn’t have happened.” He said he specifically recalled taking his daughter to a party at a Pizza Express that afternoon.
Andrew sought to cast doubt on other parts of Giuffre’s account, including her recollection of Andrew sweating on her as they danced in a London night club.
Andrew told BBC he has a “peculiar medical condition, which is that I don’t sweat or I didn’t sweat at the time” after suffering an “overdose of adrenaline” after being shot at in the Falklands War, the 1982 conflict between Argentina and the United Kingdom.
“It was almost impossible for me to sweat,” he said.
Regrets friendship
Andrew also said he regrets not cutting ties with Epstein after the financier pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution in Florida under a deal that required him to serve 13 months in jail and register as a sex offender.
He saw Epstein following his release from custody in Florida and stayed at his New York mansion for several days. He said he ended his friendship with Epstein during that visit and did not have further contact with him.
“It was the wrong decision to go and see him in 2010,” Andrew said. “I kick myself for (it) on a daily basis because it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family.”
Epstein, who rubbed shoulders with the elite and politically powerful, killed himself this summer while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. He had been accused of sexually abusing dozens of women.
Andrew did not rule out cooperating with the ongoing federal investigation in the United States into Epstein’s associates, saying he would follow his lawyers’ advice.
A new report by leading health and safety agencies finds millions of sanitation workers in developing countries are forced to work under horrific conditions that put their health and lives at risk.
Sanitation workers everywhere occupy the lowest rung of society and are stigmatized and marginalized because they do the dirty work that other people do not want to do.
The report’s authors – the International Labor Organization, the World Health Organization, the World Bank and WaterAid – say they hope to raise awareness on the plight of sanitation workers and the dehumanizing conditions under which they are forced to work. For example, the report says that many sanitation workers aren’t given the safety training or equipment needed to protect them when handling effluent or fecal sludge.
World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier says sanitation workers make an important contribution to public health at the risk of their own lives. Poor sanitation, he says, causes more than 430,000 deaths from diarrhea every year and is linked to the spread of other diseases such as cholera, dysentery, typhoid, hepatitis A and polio.
“Sanitation workers are the people who work in jobs such as cleaning toilets, emptying pits and septic tanks, cleaning sewage and manholes and operating pumping stations and treatment plants.… Waste must be correctly treated before being disposed of or used. However, workers often come into direct contact with human waste, working with no equipment or no protection to remove it by hand which exposes them to a long list of health hazards and diseases,” Lindmeier said.
Authors of the report say sanitation workers in developing countries largely operate in the informal sector. They labor under abusive conditions, have no rights or social protections and are poorly paid.
The study calls on countries to rectify these wrongs. It urges governments to enact laws and regulations that improve working conditions for sanitation workers and protect their safety and health. It says sanitation workers must be given the equipment and training necessary for the safe, proper disposal of waste.
Authorities in Haiti said late Friday they are investigating allegations that a group of male inmates raped 10 women in a makeshift jail in the northern city of Gonaives.
Prosecutor Serard Gazius told The Associated Press that more than 50 men broke out of their cells last week and overpowered police officers guarding the inmates, adding that an unknown number of them are suspected of raping 10 of 12 women being held in the same facility but in separate cells.
He said the male and female inmates were being held in a former United Nations facility because the original prison was destroyed years ago and a new one hasn’t been built. Gazius said the women were scared and have yet to identify the suspects, adding that they have received medical care.
Gazius said the women were being held on charges ranging from robberies to attempted murder. None of them have been convicted.
Jean Castro Previl, head of the Artibonite police department, declined to comment and referred all questions to Gazius.
All 340 detainees have been transferred to other facilities as authorities continue the investigation, with Gazius adding that violent protests that began more than two months ago seeking the president’s resignation are making it difficult to prosecute suspects because some courts have been shuttered, along with many schools and businesses.
A human rights group known as the Defenders Plus Collective denounced the alleged rapes and called on the government to prosecute the suspects and do more to protect women and girls across Haiti as violence and political turmoil worsen.
“With the chaotic situation that Haiti’s population is facing, armed gangs have taken advantage and multiplied and acted with impunity and tranquility under the passive gaze of state authorities,” the organization said in a statement.
It’s looking like an anti-robocall bill will be sent to President Donald Trump this year, helping tackle an infuriating problem in the U.S.
House and Senate leaders said Friday they’ve reached an agreement in principle on merging their two bills against robocalls.
The House bill had gone further than the Senate one. Details about what’s in the final bill are still to come, but legislators say it will require phone companies to verify that phone numbers are real, and to block calls for free. It will also give government agencies more ability to go after scammers.
It’s the latest effort in a crackdown, building on steps by state attorneys general and the Federal Communications Commission as well as the phone companies.
Phone companies have been rolling out verification tools after prompting from regulators. These reassure customers that the number showing up on their phone is actually the number that called, and not a fraudster “spoofing,” or faking, the number to try to get people to pick it up. Numbers can be faked to look like they’re coming from the IRS, for example, or from a number with the same area code as you. But to combat this successfully, all carriers need to put the anti-spoofing system in place.
Telecom companies are also offering call-blocking apps for smartphones and many home phones, although not always for free. The FCC in June gave them permission to turn on call-blocking by default. While tools had been available before, customers might not have known to ask about them.
Robocalls have become almost inescapable as the cost of sending them dropped and going after callers is difficult. Tech vendor YouMail said there were 5.7 billion calls from scammers, telemarketers, debt collectors and others in October. Not all those calls are unwanted, though — you might want to get the call from your pharmacy saying your prescription is ready.
Palestinian militants fired two rockets deep into southern Israel from Gaza Saturday, and the Israeli military responded with a number of air strikes on militant targets, shaking an already tenuous truce.
Sirens sounded in the middle of the night in Beersheba, the largest city in southern Israel, about 35 km (18 miles) from the Gaza border, warning of incoming fire. The military said its missile defenses intercepted the two rockets.
A few hours later, Israeli aircraft struck a number of militant outposts belonging to Hamas, the Islamist group that rules Gaza. No injuries were reported.
The overnight rocket attack came nearly two days after a ceasefire ended a flare-up in cross-border violence between Israel and a smaller Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad.
The worst fighting in months was triggered Tuesday when Israel killed a top commander from the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad, deeming him an imminent threat.
A Palestinian demonstrator argues with an Israeli border policeman during a protest against Jewish settlements near Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Nov. 15, 2019.
Gaza medical officials said 34 Palestinians had been killed in the two days of fighting, almost half of them civilians.
At the same time, hundreds of rocket launches by militants paralyzed much of southern Israel and reached as far north as Tel Aviv, sending entire communities to shelters. Dozens of Israelis were injured.
Throughout the fighting, Hamas, the dominant force in Gaza, appeared to have stayed on the sidelines. That may have helped stem the escalation.
Israel’s military, however, said Saturday that it would hold Hamas responsible for any attack emanating from Gaza.
“Hamas will bear the consequences for actions against Israeli civilians,” it said in a statement.
Tunisia took a step forward Friday in forming a new government following rollercoaster October elections, with the moderate Islamist Ennahda party proposing a prime minister from its own ranks to lead it. Former junior agriculture minister, Habib Jemli, 60, will now have two months to form a government. If he fails to do so, newly elected President Kais Saied can tap another candidate.
Still, it remains uncertain whether any future government emerging from a politically fractured parliament — along with an untested president — can tackle the country’s massive economic and employment challenges.
With Tunisia considered the Arab Spring’s first and so far only relative success story, this latest twist in its bumpy post-revolutionary path is being closely watched abroad. Some analysts hail last month’s elections — where disaffected voters ousted establishment candidates in favor of political outsiders — as a messy but clear affirmation of democracy. Others fear the next government may prove just as disappointing as the last one.
“The real issue is the economy,” said analyst Hamadi Redissi, president of the Tunisian Observatory for Democratic Transition research organization. “Can it deliver what people are asking for — jobs and prosperity? That remains to be seen.”
Voters’ message
Since its 2011 revolution, the North African country has seen shrinking growth and soaring joblessness, the same toxic ingredients that triggered the uprising. Its key tourism sector is only recently rebounding following 2015 terrorist attacks. Tunisia has also earned the unwelcome record as one of the largest exporters of terrorist fighters.
Upcoming negotiations to form a new government will be a key test for Ennahda, a once-banned movement that emerged as a key part in Tunisia’s post-revolution power structure. While coming out ahead in last month’s legislative polls, it took a hit along with other establishment parties — capturing just 52 of the 217 parliamentary seats, down from its previous 69.
“We’ve heard the voters’ message,” said senior Ennahda member Abdelkarim Harouni. “We can’t fail in making the reforms Tunisians are waiting for.”
But Ennahda may have to strike an unlikely alliance with a former political nemesis to form a winning coalition, analysts say — notably media mogul Nabil Karoui’s Heart of Tunisia party, which placed second in October voting. Earlier this week, Heart of Tunisia backed Ennahda’s controversial leader, Rachid Ghannouchi, as speaker of parliament.
FILE – Young men are seen at a bus stop cafe in Tunis, Tunisia. Unemployment reaches 30 percent in some parts of Tunisia. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)
While claiming talks between the two parties to form a new government are not currently happening, “anything is possible,” Harouni said, noting both share similar poverty-fighting goals.
Ennahda will also need to strike a deal with other smaller parties or individuals to get the minimum 109 votes to pass legislation. At least two it has been negotiating with are adamantly against any alliance with Heart of Tunisia, analyst Redissi said.
“Ennahda and Heart of Tunisia are pragmatic,” he added. “They know Tunisia must be governed by balancing powers and managing institutions. They know the limits and the red lines.”
Still, a power-sharing deal between the two is politically risky, and supporters of both parties are reportedly unhappy about the prospects. With Karoui facing corruption allegations and a Heart of Tunisia lawmaker accused of sexual harassment, it may also undermine Ennahda’s clean government vows.
An untested president
The next government will also have to work with President Saied, a constitutional lawmaker with no political experience or party affiliation. While Tunisian presidential powers are limited to foreign and defense issues, Saied’s popularity gives him symbolic heft. His shoestring, door-to-door campaign energized voters, especially young Tunisians yearning for a return to the country’s revolutionary spirit.
Saied’s conservative social agenda, opposing gay rights and equal legal inheritance among men and women, may align with Ennahda’s. Not so his support for direct, rather than parliamentary democracy — views Ennahda’s Harouni described as little-tested “theories.”
Still the party’s biggest challenge may be itself. Ennahda will no longer be the minority member of a coalition government facing a country in crisis.
“It won’t be the government behind the scenes,” analyst Redissi said. “Young people need jobs and older people need a better life. By picking a prime minister from its own ranks, it will have to assume responsibility.”
United Airlines is removing the grounded Boeing 737 Max from its schedule until March 4, two months longer than previously planned.
The change follows similar moves by American and Southwest, and reflects further delays in Boeing’s work to fix the plane after two deadly crashes.
United said Friday that without the planes, it will cancel 56 flights a day in January, February and early March, down from 93 a day this month.
United has 14 Max jets. All Max planes have been grounded since March, after crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people.
Boeing is fixing flight-control software and computers that played a role in the crashes. Boeing expects regulators to approve changes in pilot-training in January, clearing the way for U.S. airlines to resume Max flights with passengers.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is on the ballot in New Hampshire, where he hopes his patience will pay off.
The Democratic presidential hopeful signed up for the first-in-the-nation presidential primary on Friday, the final day of the filing period. Though he lags behind in polls, Booker says he’s not one to switch strategies or states to focus on, as some other candidates have done.
Booker’s latest trip to New Hampshire comes a day after former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick jumped into the race. Booker says it’s good to have robust competition, and that he doesn’t take it personally that some of his close friends are also running.
