South Korea holds parliamentary elections: All you need to know
South Koreans will head to the polls on Wednesday to choose who will sit in the country’s 300-member parliament in a major political test of conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol. Yoon was elected leader two years ago with the slimmest margin of victory in any presidential election, defeating Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party by 0.73 percent. His approval ratings remain low amid an acrimonious doctors’ strike, rising food prices and allegations of corruption, which could spell trouble for his People Power Party. But the Democratic Party is not much more popular, with Lee facing corruption charges. The National Assembly, as the parliament is known, is currently controlled by the Democrats, and whoever wins the April 10 vote will be in a position to set the tone for domestic politics over its next four-year term. Here is all you need to know about the elections: Why does the election matter? The election comes with Yoon enduring months of low approval ratings, and can be seen as a “half-term assessment” of his administration, according to the US-based Stimson Center. If the PPP performs poorly or is unable to claim a majority in parliament the president is likely to lose further momentum in his final three years in office. South Korean presidents serve only a single term. “With the opposition-led parliament, it has been hard to make a policy push or achievement over the last two years. Without change during the rest of his term, it would be extremely hard to do his job,” said Lee Jun-han, professor of political science at Incheon National University. The election is being seen as a referendum on conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol [Yonhap via Reuters] Whatever the outcome, the election is unlikely to have much of an effect on the country’s foreign policy, however. Yoon has sought to deepen its political and military ties with Japan and the United States amid bellicose talk from Pyongyang, which has been testing new weaponry and developing closer relations with Russia. What are the main parties? The PPP and Democratic Party have dominated South Korean politics for years. As of March 2024, the National Assembly had 297 members out of a total of 300 seats. The DP held the most seats with 160, followed by the PPP with 113. There are also a number of smaller parties, some of them set up by breakaway factions of the established parties. More than 20 percent of voters said they would vote for the newly-launched Reform Korea party under former justice minister Cho Kuk via the proportional representation vote, according to a Gallup poll released on March 29. That could give the party between 10 and 15 seats, and perhaps make them a kingmaker in the new parliament. Democratic Party campaigners perform a dance routine for the crowd at a rally earlier this week [Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters] What are the key issues? Opinion polls suggest the cost of living and rising food prices are key issues for voters. Yoon and his party felt the heat after a visit to a supermarket last month when he tried to promote government efforts to tame prices by talking about the price of green onions. Looking at a bundle of onions with a price tag of 875 won ($0.65) – a discounted price as a result of a government subsidy – Yoon said he thought the price was “reasonable”. The comment gave plenty of fodder to the opposition – the average retail price for green onions has been hovering between 3,000 won and 4,000 won ($2.20 to $2.90) – with candidates for the Democratic Party brandishing onions at campaign rallies and accusing Yoon of being out of touch. It is not just onions that have surged in price, either. Prices of agricultural products increased by more than 20 percent in March from the same month last year. The price of apples surged nearly 90 percent, marking the largest one-year jump since 1980. Onions have emerged as an unlikely issue in the election, amid rising frustration over the government’s handling of the economy [File: Kim Daewoung/Reuters] Voters are also concerned about a weeks-long strike by thousands of doctors angry over plans to reform medical education, which has forced operations to be cancelled and increased waiting times. Yoon has refused to budge, but opinion polls suggest increasing public support for a compromise to end the dispute. Corruption also remains a major issue. Yoon is under pressure over the so-called “Dior bag scandal” after footage surfaced last November showing his wife accepting a $2,200 designer handbag. Yoon has dismissed the video as a “political scheme” but such a gift would breach South Korean law banning public officials and their spouses from accepting anything worth more than $750. He is also facing the heat over his decision to appoint former defence minister Lee Jong-sup as the country’s ambassador to Australia while being under investigation for corruption. Lee resigned on March 29 less than a month after an outcry, not only among the opposition but also within the PPP. The Democratic Party also has its own struggles with corruption. Leader Lee is facing trial over charges including bribery. Cho also has baggage. A rising political star during the government of Yoon’s Democratic predecessor, Moon Jae-in, he faced a slew of scandals that undermined his reformist image and sharply split the nation. In February, a court sentenced him to two years in prison for forging documents for his children’s university admission, and he has one last appeal. And what will not be an issue? North Korea. Despite all its weapons tests and moves to end all forms of cooperation with South Korea, most voters are inured to the rumblings from across the border. The “widespread public feeling towards North Korea is pity, not fear,” political consultant Bae Kang-hun told the AFP news agency, noting the South Korean economy is about 40 times larger than North Korea’s. Turnout for early voting was high, suggesting strong interest in Wednesday’s poll [Kim Soo-hyeon/Reuters] How does the election
Photos: Palestinians in Gaza prepare for Eid amid death and destruction
This year, the shadow of continued Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip looms large over Palestinians as they prepare for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. The bloodshed in the Gaza Strip, despite the UN Security Council’s demand for an immediate ceasefire and the International Court of Justice’s order for Israel to allow humanitarian relief and prevent genocide, has placed a pall over Eid celebrations. Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed about 33,360 people and wounded 75,993 others, according to Palestinian authorities, has taken a massive toll on the holiday spirit. Despite the devastation, a large number of Palestinians who have been displaced and lost their homes and loved ones as a result of the six-month-long war went shopping for Eid al-Fitr. Thousands of Palestinians throng the markets in some parts of Gaza to try to experience the joy of Eid despite the ongoing war. Adblock test (Why?)
UK will not block arms sales to Israel, says Foreign Minister David Cameron
British government is coming under growing pressure to halt weapons supplies to Israel as it continues its war on Gaza. The United Kingdom will not halt arms sales to Israel by British companies after reviewing the latest legal advice on the matter, Foreign Minister David Cameron has said. Six months into the Israeli assault on Gaza, triggered by the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government has come under heavy pressure to revoke licences that allow arms exports to Israel. “The latest assessment leaves our position on export licences unchanged. This is consistent with the advice that I and other ministers have received,” Cameron said on Tuesday at a press conference with his US counterpart Antony Blinken in Washington, DC. “And as ever, we will keep the position under review.” Britain supplied 42 million pounds ($53m) of arms to Israel in 2022. Last week three former senior UK judges joined more than 600 members of the British legal profession in calling for the government to halt arms sales to Israel, saying it could make Britain complicit in genocide in Gaza. Some opposition political parties in Britain have called for the government to recall Parliament from its current holiday and revoke the export licences, and also to publish the legal advice the government has used to reach its position. “This was yet another missed opportunity from David Cameron to move himself and other UK officials away from their current complicity in Israeli war crimes, apartheid and possible genocide,” said Amnesty International UK’s crisis response manager, Kristyan Benedict. Israel denies it has committed war crimes or genocide in its assault on Gaza, and has rejected the use of the term “apartheid” to describe its treatment of Palestinians. At least 33,360 people have been killed and 75,993 others wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, according to Palestinian authorities. Israel launched the assault after the Palestinian group Hamas led an attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing at least 1,139 people, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on Israeli statistics. Cameron said Britain continued to have “grave concerns around the humanitarian access issue in Gaza”. He defended the decision not to publish the legal advice on arms export licences. He said it was an important principle that ministers act consistently with legal advice without making it public. “The overall judgement is that those export licences will remain open and continue,” he said. His visit to the United States comes as Israel says it has set a date for a military offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than a million displaced Palestinians have sought shelter from the Israeli assault. Blinken on Tuesday said he expects talks between Israeli and US officials to take place next week on a potential Israeli military operation in Rafah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that victory over Hamas required entry into Rafah and said there was a date for the operation, despite Washington’s warning not to go ahead. Blinken said Washington has not been given a date. “On the contrary, what we have is an ongoing conversation with Israel about any Rafah operation,” Blinken said, adding that he expected the talks would continue next week. “I don’t anticipate any actions being taken before those talks, and for that matter, I don’t see anything imminent. But there’s a lot of work to be done and it remains our conviction that major military operations in Rafah would be extremely dangerous for civilians who would be caught in harm’s way,” he said. Blinken also said the US is continuing to work closely with Qatar and Egypt on a potential ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. He said that 400 trucks were cleared to go into Gaza on Monday, the most since October 7, when the conflict was triggered. Adblock test (Why?)
Total solar eclipse sweeps across North America: Eight highlights
A total solar eclipse has crossed North America, slicing a diagonal line from the southwest to the northeast, briefly plunging communities in Mexico, the United States and Canada along the path into darkness. This was the first total eclipse to sweep across a large swath of North America since 2017. The next total solar eclipse will take place on August 12, 2026, over Greenland, Iceland and Spain. Here are eight highlights: Mexico’s Mazatlan was first city to experience totality Mexico’s beachside resort town of Mazatlan was the first major viewing spot for totality. Thousands in solar-safe eyewear perched in deck chairs along the coastal promenade, and an orchestra played the Star Wars movie theme as skies darkened under the approaching lunar shadow. The crowds burst into cheers, applause and whistles when the eclipse reached totality. Eclipse fans travelled from far and wide hoping to glimpse the phenomenon somewhere along the “path of totality” stretching 2,500 miles (4,000 km) from Mexico’s Pacific Coast through Texas and across 14 other US states into Canada. Lourdes Corro, 43, said she travelled 10 hours by car to reach Mazatlan. “The last one I saw was when I was nine years old,” Corro said. “There are a few clouds but we can still see the sun.” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador uses special protective glasses to observe the total solar eclipse in Mazatlan [Reuters] Some animals changed their behaviour A researcher observing animals at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas during totality said some seemed extra vigilant, including a rambunctious young male gorilla that stood on a pole. At the Dallas Zoo, flamingos gathered in the middle of a pond and the penguins also clustered together, an employee said. “The flamingos started getting crazy and started getting in the water because they thought it was time to sleep,” visitor Mara Villeda, of Arlington, told local news agency NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. Despite some changes at the Fort Worth Zoo, most animals remained relatively calm during totality and many moved to where they were put away for the evening. “In general, everybody was really well adjusted. Nobody was doing sort of bonkers behaviour,” said Adam Hartstone-Rose, a researcher from North Carolina State University who came with a team to Texas for the eclipse. A gorilla sits in an enclosure as the sun returns at the Fort Worth Zoo after a total solar eclipse on Monday in Fort Worth, Texas [LM Otero/AP] Weddings and proposals In Russellville, Arkansas, a town of roughly 30,000 people near the southern US state’s only nuclear power plant, almost 400 couples tied the knot by the shadow of the moon in a mass wedding event dubbed “Elope and the Eclipse”. Further north in Niagara Falls, clouds threatened to disrupt viewing parties for the crowd of about 2,000 people who had gathered in the state park. There were at least two weddings and one marriage proposal at the falls as the clouds parted to reveal the last 30 seconds of totality, and the crowd went wild, cheering and shouting, “It’s so beautiful.” As the skies began to brighten again, a band played out the retreating lunar shadow with a rendition of REM’s 1992 hit song Man on the Moon. Couples exchange rings just before totality during a solar eclipse at a mass wedding ceremony at Trenton, Ohio [Jon Cherry/AP] New world record Across the river in Niagara Falls, Ontario, 309 people – some from as far away as Singapore and London – came dressed up as the sun, setting a new world record for the largest group to wear solar costumes in one place, contest organisers said. The previous record was set in 2020 by 287 participants in China. Some of the 309 people gathered to break the Guinness World Record for the largest group of people dressed as the sun pose on a sightseeing boat [Jenna Zucker/Reuters] Hear and feel the eclipse While eclipse watchers looked to the skies, people who were blind or visually impaired were able to hear and feel the celestial event. Devices that can translate the eclipse on sound and touch devices were available at some public gatherings. An astronomer who is blind collaborated with an astronomer from Harvard University to design the LightSound box, which translates changing light in the sky into differing musical notes. Another device allowed users to feel the eclipse through rows of dots that moved up and down. In this composite of eight photographs, the moon passes by the sun into totality and away again during a total solar eclipse in Bloomington, Indiana [Josh Edelson/AFP] The eclipse in numbers The out-of-sync darkness lasted as long as 4 minutes and 28 seconds. That is almost twice as long as it was during the US coast-to-coast eclipse seven years ago because the moon was closer to Earth. It took just 1 hour and 40 minutes for the moon’s shadow to race more than 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometres) across the continent. The path of totality – approximately 115 miles (185 kilometres) wide – encompassed several major US and Canadian cities, including Dallas, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Buffalo, New York and Montreal. An estimated 44 million people lived within the track, with a couple of hundred million more within 200 miles (320 kilometres). (Al Jazeera) Jupiter and Venus visible during totality Hundreds of people at Shawnee National Forest in the US state of Virginia erupted into cheers as darkness fell over their campsite. Temperatures dropped several degrees. Birds chirped and frogs croaked. And planets including Jupiter and Venus were visible during the more than 3 minutes of totality. When is the next total solar eclipse? The next total solar eclipse will take place on August 12, 2026, over Greenland, Iceland and Spain. Almost exactly a year later, on August 2, 2027, one will be visible from northern Africa, Gibraltar and the Arabian Peninsula. In the US, the next total eclipse will occur in 2033 but will only be visible from Alaska. Western Canada, Montana and North Dakota will witness a
Activists calling for Israel arms embargo target UK’s Labour party HQ
NewsFeed Video shows activists spraying red paint on the UK’s Labour party headquarters in a protest calling for an arms embargo against Israel and an end to new drilling for oil and gas. At least two people were arrested. Published On 9 Apr 20249 Apr 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Israel says ‘date set’ for Rafah invasion amid ongoing Gaza truce talks
Hamas says Israel is not acceding to demands of a military withdrawal and allowing Palestinians to return home. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a date has been set to invade Rafah in southern Gaza as truce talks with Hamas in Cairo are ongoing but do not appear close to the finish line. In a video statement in Hebrew, Netanyahu reiterated his position that a ground military operation in Rafah, bordering Egypt, where more than 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering, is essential for victory in the war. “It will happen. There is a date,” he said on Monday without elaborating. This comes as Hamas was presented with a new proposal in ceasefire talks at the end of the weekend, but one that does not appear to be able to secure a deal. The Palestinian group confirmed in a statement that it is reviewing the proposal, but said Israel “has not responded to any of the demands of our people and our resistance”. Senior Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zahry told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu’s remarks “raise questions about the purpose of resuming negotiations”. “The success of any negotiations depends on ending the aggression,” said Zahry, adding that the group’s “demands are clear: an end to aggression against our people”. Israel has so far rejected Palestinian demands of an unrestricted return of hundreds of thousands of Gaza Palestinians to the enclave’s north, and the retreat of Israeli military ground forces from the strip. The Israeli military said it has withdrawn some of its ground forces from Gaza, but has kept the troops in charge of maintaining an east-west corridor that effectively cuts the enclave in half and prevents the return of Palestinians to the north. The United States continues to be publicly opposed to the idea of Israel’s invasion of Rafah as it has said there are no viable plans to evacuate the large number of civilians who are in the area. An unnamed Israeli official told The Associated Press news agency that Israel is buying 40,000 tents to prepare for the evacuation of Palestinians from Rafah. US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters following Netanyahu’s announcement that the US has not been fully briefed on any new Rafah developments. “We have made clear to Israel that we think a full-scale military invasion of Rafah would have an enormously harmful effect on those civilians and that it would ultimately hurt Israel’s security,” Miller said. This comes as the leaders of Egypt, Jordan and France wrote a joint op-ed published by several media outlets, including The Washington Post and Le Monde, that called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, as demanded by a United Nations Security Council resolution passed in late March. “We warn against the dangerous consequences of an Israeli offensive on Rafah, where more than 1.5 million Palestinian civilians have sought refuge. Such an offensive will only bring more deaths and suffering, heighten the risks and consequences of mass forcible displacement of the people of Gaza and threaten regional escalation,” said the leaders. Mahjoob Zweiri, director of the Gulf Studies Center at Qatar University, told Al Jazeera it has become apparent to Israel’s Western allies and even within the country that Netanyahu has no interest in reaching a deal “any time soon”. “He wants more time, he wants to go to Rafah, he wants to have something he has failed to achieve so far,” Zweiri said. “He and the right wing need individuals, they need names – they talk about [Hamas leaders Yahya] Sinwar and [Mohammed] Deif, and none of this has been achieved.” Zweiri said as long as this continues, the Israeli prime minister’s stance will remain the same out of “self-interest” to preserve his political future. “Everyone knows, but the issue is whether the international community accept this, will accept to see more killing and more destructionfor someone who is irresponsible politically and immorally is waging war on civilians,” he added. Adblock test (Why?)
Hamas says no progress in Gaza truce talks as sides set to meet again
Israeli and Hamas officials say no significant progress has been made in the latest round of Gaza truce talks in Cairo attended by representatives from mediators Egypt, Qatar and the United States. “There is no change in the position of the occupation and, therefore, there is nothing new in the Cairo talks. … There is no progress yet,” a Hamas official, who asked not to be named, told the Reuters news agency on Monday, shortly after reports quoting Egyptian sources said headway had been made. Israel’s Ynet news outlet cited an unidentified Israeli official as saying there had been “nothing dramatic” in the talks. “We still don’t see a deal on the horizon. The distance is still great, and there has been nothing dramatic in the meantime,” the official said. A separate senior Israeli official was quoted by Ynet as saying: “Patience is needed. There is potential, but we are not there yet.” Much of the international community has expressed outrage over the Palestinian death toll and humanitarian crisis arising from Israel’s military operation that it says is aimed at destroying Hamas in the Gaza Strip. More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7, according to Palestinian officials. Israel launched its assault on Gaza in response to Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, which killed 1,139 people, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on Israeli statistics. Hamas seized 253 people at that time and took them back to Gaza. Of those, 133 captives remain, and negotiators have spoken of about 40 going free in the first stage of a prospective deal with Hamas. Israel’s army says more than 600 of its soldiers have been killed in combat. Delegations set to return to Cairo Israel and Hamas sent teams to Egypt on Sunday after the arrival on Saturday of CIA Director William Burns, whose presence underlined rising pressure from the White House for a deal that would reach a truce, free captives held in Gaza and get aid to isolated civilians. Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, said the fact that talks have not broken down was a positive development. “There is apparently a ceasefire framework that the Israelis are now taking back to the war cabinet and Hamas is discussing within the movement,” he said. Khan said senior Israeli politicians are actually talking about the potential of the talks. “Finance Minister [Bezalel] Smotrich is calling for a meeting to get an update on what this framework is, and Yair Lapid, head of the opposition, says he’s willing to give the government a safety net to be able to come to some sort of deal,” Khan said. Two Egyptian security sources and state-run Al-Qahera News said on Monday that some progress had been made in the Cairo talks. The security sources said both sides had made concessions that could help pave the way for a deal for a truce that – as proposed during previous talks – would be staggered over three stages with the release of the remaining Israeli captives and a long-term ceasefire addressed in the second stage. The concessions relate to the release of Israeli captives and Hamas’s demand for the return of displaced residents to northern Gaza, they said. Mediators suggested the return could be monitored by an Arab force in the presence of Israeli security deployments that would later be pulled back, they added. Delegations left Cairo, and consultations were expected to continue within 48 hours, the sources and Al-Qahera said. ‘Mixed messages’ Luciano Zaccara, a professor of Gulf politics at Qatar University’s Gulf Studies Center, told Al Jazeera that while mixed messages were emerging from Egypt, the Israeli government has made it clear the war will go on. The weekend pullout of Israeli forces from Gaza is aimed at reorganising troops for their future mission in Rafah, “meaning that Israel has not stopped pursuing the main objective, which is to destroy Hamas completely”, Zaccara said. “But the government is aware of the mounting pressure from captives’ families who joined forces with those seeking the prime minister’s resignation,” he added. “It seems like something is moving inside Israel to reach an agreement. They have to show they are working towards a solution, but we have to wait for the next 48 hours to see if a deal is reached,” Zaccara said. Six months into its offensive on Gaza, Israel has devastated the enclave and left most of its 2.3 million people homeless and many at risk of famine. The country is under global pressure to ease Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and drop its plans to storm Rafah, a town on the southern border with Egypt packed with more than a million displaced Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that a date has been set for the Israeli offensive on Rafah. He did not disclose when it would be. Adblock test (Why?)
Trump says abortion should be up to US states, avoids backing national ban
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said the issue of abortion access should be left up to states to decide, eschewing calls from within his party to support a nationwide ban on the procedure in the United States. In a video posted on his Truth Social platform on Monday, the former US president said he was “proudly the person responsible” for overturning Roe v Wade, the landmark legal precedent that had guaranteed abortion rights on the national level for decades. The US Supreme Court, bolstered by a 6-3 conservative majority that included several Trump appointees, overturned Roe v Wade in June 2022. That put the question of abortion access largely in the hands of individual states to decide, though some anti-abortion activists have pushed for a nationwide ban to be implemented. “The states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land,” Trump said in Monday’s video. “Many states will be different,” he said, adding that, “At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people.” Reproductive rights are expected to be a central issue heading into November’s presidential election, which is set to pit Trump against his Democratic Party rival, President Joe Biden. Biden has made defending access to reproductive healthcare a central plank of his re-election campaign, condemning Trump and Republican Party lawmakers for supporting the end of Roe v Wade. Conservatives had spent decades trying to overturn the 1973 legal precedent, and several Republican-led US states enacted strict limits on abortion after the Supreme Court’s decision nearly two years ago, in a case known as Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization. But abortion has become an Achilles heel for the Republican Party, as polls show abortion bans and restrictions are unpopular and most Americans want to protect access to the procedure. The Pew Research Center reported in April 2023 — nearly a year after Roe was overturned — that 62 percent of Americans said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared with 36 percent who said it should be illegal. Looking along partisan lines, the survey found that 84 percent of Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 40 percent of Republicans or right-leaning independents said the same. NEW from @JoeBiden on Trump’s abortion comments >> “Trump is scrambling. He’s worried that since he’s the one responsible for overturning Roe the voters will hold him accountable in 2024. Well, I have news for Donald. They will. pic.twitter.com/PHSIvITw1z — Ammar Moussa (@ammarmufasa) April 8, 2024 November’s election is expected to be hard fought, and experts say Trump could risk losing votes in critical swing states if he were to come out strongly in favour of a national abortion ban. Jeanette Hoffman, a Republican political consultant, told the Reuters news agency that “leaving abortion to the states is [Trump’s] way of punting on the issue”. “Now that the primary is over, there’s nothing to be gained from proposing a national abortion ban, as he’ll lose support from voters in many swing states,” Hoffman said. Trump’s comments on Monday drew criticism from anti-abortion groups in the US, however. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion group Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America, said the organisation was “deeply disappointed” by Trump’s position. The Supreme Court’s 2022 decision “clearly allows both states and Congress to act”, she said in a statement. “Saying the issue is ‘back to the states’ cedes the national debate to the Democrats.” Senator Lindsey Graham, a top Republican and ally of the former president, also said he disagreed with Trump’s stance. “I will continue to advocate that there should be a national minimum standard limiting abortion at fifteen weeks,” Graham wrote on the social media platform X. Meanwhile, Biden slammed his predecessor for making “it clear once again today that he is — more than anyone in America — the person responsible for ending Roe v Wade”. “Trump is scrambling,” Biden said in a statement. “He’s worried that since he’s the one responsible for overturning Roe the voters will hold him accountable in 2024. Well, I have news for Donald. They will.” Adblock test (Why?)
UN Security Council refers Palestine’s full membership bid to committee
Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour urges Security Council to ‘elevate itself to implementing the global consensus on the two-state solution’. The United Nations Security Council president has referred the Palestinian Authority’s (PA’s) application for Palestine to become a full member of the world body to its membership committee. The 15-member committee is expected to make a decision about Palestine’s status this month, said Vanessa Frazier, Malta’s UN ambassador, who also proposed that the committee meet on Monday to consider the application. Malta is president of the Security Council for April. Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour told reporters in New York that the PA sincerely hoped that after 12 years as an observer state at the UN, the Security Council would “elevate itself to implementing the global consensus on the two-state solution by admitting the state of Palestine for full membership”. Last week, the PA formally asked for renewed consideration by the Security Council of its 2011 application to become a full member of the world body. The Palestinians are a non-member observer state at the UN, the same status as the Holy See. Reporting from UN headquarters in New York, Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo said the PA’s membership bid was “moving forward” and highlighted that this is a significant and symbolic moment for Palestine. “This is only the second time that Palestine has been able to get this far in their bid for full UN membership. The last time was 2011 when it essentially failed in the Security Council standing committee due to a threat by the US to veto it if it ever came to a vote,” he noted. He added that for any country to become a full member of the UN, the international body’s charter says the country’s membership first has to be approved by the Security Council and then it would need to get the support of two-thirds of the 190 members of the UN General Assembly. “It is believed that Palestine has the support in the General Assembly. That is pretty much widely accepted. The issue is in the Security Council, … where any of the five permanent members could veto it, and this would then stop the process,” Elizondo said. Security Council approval requires at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes by the United States, Russia, China, France or Britain. Earlier on Monday, the Security Council met behind closed doors to discuss the letter from the PA. Mansour told Reuters last week that the aim was for the council to make a decision at an April 18 ministerial meeting on the Middle East. Israel’s UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, said recognition of a Palestinian state would be a threat to Israel’s national security. “Granting the Palestinian statehood is not only a blatant violation of the UN Charter, it also violates the fundamental principle that everyone can understand of reaching a solution, a lasting solution, at the negotiating table,” Erdan told reporters on Monday. “The UN has been sabotaging peace in the Middle East for years, but today marks the beginning of the point of no return,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)
Political merchandise sales spike days before nearly a billion Indians vote
Ahead of the first voting day of the seven-phase election on April 19, garment makers are temporarily converting factories into production hubs for election flags and banners. Days before India heads into a six-week election with nearly a billion registered voters, political party merchandise and flag makers are expanding operations and working overtime to meet a surge in demand. Ahead of the first voting day of the seven-phase election on April 19, garment makers are temporarily converting factories where they usually make saris into production hubs for election flags and banners. One such factory owner, Mukesh Agarwal, said there are as many as 40 similar factories in Mathura, a temple town in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state and key political battleground. “The cheapest and best items used for political campaigns are banners and flags,” Agarwal said. A worker sorts finished flag fabrics of the Congress party at a factory in Mathura, India [Sharafat Ali/Reuters] Election merchandise is a low-margin, high-volume business, where the price of a party badge can start from 1 rupee ($0.01). Agarwal said some factories can produce a million flags a day if demand continues to increase. During an election, India is plastered with posters of hundreds of political parties and thousands of candidates. “As many people have little education, party workers use flags to promote their symbols and hang them outside houses and make them the medium of their campaigns,” Agarwal said. A textile hub in Surat, in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, is the centre of election merchandise along with several smaller hotspots like Mathura in the north and Hyderabad in the south. Workers arrange the flag of the regional Bahujan Samaj Party at a factory in Mathura [Sharafat Ali/Reuters] Elections give the economy a boost as political parties spend on goods and services as varied as small merchandise and helicopter rental. Gulshan Khurana, general secretary of a traders association in Old Delhi’s Sadar Bazaar market, said political parties spend 30 billion to 50 billion rupees ($360-600m) on election merchandise, creating as many as 10 million jobs. Khurana, who has been a market trader for nearly 50 years, said there has been a nearly 30 percent increase in business compared with the last election in 2019, when Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party spent a record sum to retain power. An opinion poll last week predicted an easy win for a Modi-backed coalition. But opposition politician Rahul Gandhi of the Indian National Congress said at the Friday release of his party’s manifesto that the election is “much closer than being propagated”. Adblock test (Why?)