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Category: Foreign

  • Iranian presidential vote pits reformist against hardliners

    Hardliners

    Tehran, June 28, 2024 (dpa/NAN) Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei  has kicked off the country’s presidential election on Friday, as Iranians decide whether to continue the country’s hardline conservative course or take a more moderate stance.

    Casting his vote in the capital Tehran, Khamenei urged the nation to participate in the vote to “prove the correctness and honesty of the system of the Islamic Republic.”

    Some 61 million voters in Iran are eligible to elect a successor to hardliner Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May.

    The election comes amid a severe economic crisis, tensions with the West and frustrations among the public with the enforcement of state power and the government, especially among the younger population.

    The candidates seen as having the best chances to win the election are the hardliner Saeed Jalili, a former negotiator in nuclear talks with Western powers; parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf; and former health minister and reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian.

    During the campaign, Pezeshkian criticised the government’s strict policy on women wearing headscarves, but also expressed his loyalty to Khamenei and praised the attack launched on Israel with drones and missiles in April.

    While, leading voices from the reformist camp have pledged their support for him, and he may stand a good chance of winning if he reaches a second round.

    The cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi is also still in the running.

    In spite of the title of president, Raisi was only number two in Iran’s power structure as Khamenei functions as the head of state and has the final say in all strategic matters.

    He is also commander-in-chief of Iran’s armed forces.

    The Guardian Council, an extremely conservative supervisory body, had only authorised six candidates for the election.

    Earlier in the week, two conservative hardliner candidates withdrew their nominations in an effort to unite support among hard-line voters heading to the polls.

    Many Iranians, especially young people, have however lost faith in major political change at home.

    The death of the young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in autumn 2022 sparked nationwide protests against the Islamic system of rule, but the protests were quashed long ago with harsh punishments for demonstrators.

    If none of the candidates secures an absolute majority, a runoff vote will take place on July 5.

    The first results from the first round are expected on Saturday. (dpa/NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Halima Sheji

     

     

  • U.S. presidential debate: What undecided voters think

    U.S. presidential debate: What undecided voters think

    Debate

    Washington, June 28, 2024 (Reuters/NAN) A group of U.S. voters who could not choose between Joe Biden and Donald Trump before Thursday’s presidential debate delivered their verdicts after the contest and it was almost universally bad news for Biden.
    Of the 13 “undecideds” who spoke to Reuters, 10 described the 81-year-old Democratic president’s performance against Republican candidate Trump collectively as feeble, befuddled, embarrassing and difficult to watch.
    Gina Gannon, 65, a retiree in the battleground state of Georgia, voted for Trump in 2016 before ditching him for Biden in 2020.
    “Joe Biden looked very weak and confused right from the start. It concerns me that our global enemies see Joe Biden in this manner.
    “I was shocked and dismayed. I hate to see our president acting that way on TV and in front of the world,” Gannon said.
    She added: “I am voting for Donald Trump now.”
    Presidential debates typically have limited influence on voters but Biden and Trump are in a tight race and the election will likely be decided by just thousands of votes in a handful of swing states.
    Both candidates need to win over the relatively small number of voters who have not yet decided who to vote for.
    Biden delivered a shaky, faltering performance while Trump battered him with a series of often false attacks.
    Biden’s poor showing rattled his fellow Democrats and will likely deepen voter concerns that he is too old to serve another four-year term.
    Seven of the nine voters who were dismayed by Biden’s performance told Reuters they were now leaning towards Trump because they no longer believe Biden can perform his duties as president.
    Three of those said they would vote for Trump in his Nov. 5 election rematch with Biden, even though two of them said they do not like the former Republican president.
    Meredith Marshall, 51, who lives in the Los Angeles area and is self-employed, said the debate left her in shock.
    She voted for Biden in 2020 but is now leaning toward Trump, given what she described as Biden’s lack of mental acuity.
    “God forbid if my choices are as they stand right now based on this debate. Hands down I would vote for a liar and a convict over a person who doesn’t seem to be all there mentally.”
    About 20 per cent of voters say they have not picked a candidate in this year’s presidential race, are leaning toward third-party options, or might not vote at all, according to the most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll.
    Reuters interviewed 15 such voters ahead of Thursday’s debate, and they agreed to be interviewed again after the event about whether the debate changed their views.
    It was not all bad news for Biden.
    Ashley Altum, a 28-year-old mental healthcare manager from South Carolina, had been torn between Biden or a third-party candidate before the debate.
    Now she is leaning more towards Biden.
    She said she was satisfied with Biden’s responses, given he was more willing than Trump to address questions directly.
    “I did see Biden slipping up quite a bit, but I’m always surprised more people don’t in these situations,” she said.
    “I think that anybody could go up there and speak eloquently is impressive to begin with.”
    Biden pointed out in the debate that Trump, at 78, is only three years younger.
    “But Trump was just Trump. From a cognitive decline perspective, I didn’t see that in Trump,” said Tom Reich, 36, a software engineer from South Carolina.
    The issues of age and mental capacity exploded onto the campaign trail in February following a report by a Department of Justice special counsel that suggested Biden was suffering memory lapses.
    “What a disaster for the Democrats,” Scott Harrington, 63, a fishmonger in Massachusetts, said after watching the debate.
    “I was basically undecided but was hoping Biden would have been good enough so I could vote for him. I dislike Trump intensely.
    “I was worried Biden would show he was not up to the job, but he was even worse than I feared. I might just abstain,” he added. (Reuters/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
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    (Edited by Emmanuel Yashim)

  • Saudi Arabia, UAE shorten Friday prayers amid heat waves

    Heat

    Cairo, June 28, 2024 (dpa/NAN) Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said it shortened the traditional Friday prayers due to intense heat, until the end of the summer.

    In many countries, Muslims perform the Friday noon prayers, which include a religious sermon, in open-air arenas inside and outside the mosques.

    The UAE has directed all the preachers across the country to limit the Friday prayers to 10 minutes until early October to ensure the safety of worshippers.

    In Saudi Arabia, Friday prayers at the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina are being limited to 15 minutes, to take into account worshippers praying in outer, un-shaded areas, the Presidency of Religious Affairs said.

    Meanwhile in Iraq, influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has urged preachers to “adhere to simple prayers” in order to keep the Friday sermon short, so that worshippers avoid intense heat.

    Intense heatwaves has affected people across the Middle East in recent weeks.

    More than 1,300 Muslim pilgrims died in the annual Hajj pilgrimage that ended earlier in June amid the extreme heat. (dpa/NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Halima Sheji

     

  • After dramatic tax win, Kenyan protesters plot next moves

    After dramatic tax win, Kenyan protesters plot next moves

    Plot

    Nairobi, June 28, 2024 (Reuters/NAN) After their stunning success in forcing the government to shelve 2.7 billion dollars in tax hikes, young Kenyan activists are setting their sights higher, taking aim at deeply ingrained corruption and misgovernance.
    Protesters say the finance bill President William Ruto abandoon on Wednesday was only a symptom of the problems plaguing a country where many young people face dwindling job prospects despite strong economic growth.
    The movement has little precedent in its mass mobilisation of Kenyans across ethnic and regional divisions while rejecting any kind of political leadership.
    Protests in Kenya have historically been led by elites, often ending in power-sharing deals that yielded few tangible benefits for demonstrators.
    Protesters now face the challenge of maintaining unity and momentum while pursuing broader, less immediate goals.
    They will also have to decide how to respond to Ruto’s offer of dialogue, which the president made on Wednesday without offering specifics.
    Writer and activist Nanjala Nyabola said most of those involved in the recent protests were motivated by legitimate, strongly held grievances with the government.
    “Until those grievances are addressed, it’s unlikely that they would be willing to make concessions.”
    How the diffuse and leaderless movement, which is largely organised via social media, pursues its objectives moving forward remains an open question – and a source of internal debate.
    Christine Odera, the co-chair of the Kenya Coalition on Youth, Peace, and Security, a civil society organisation, said there was a need for it to develop more formalised structures to advance the interests of young people and speak to the government.
    “If we go organically then we might lose the whole conversation,” said Odera, who participated in the protests.
    “The president has said we need to have conversations and all of us cannot sit in a stadium and have a conversation.” Others strongly disagree though.
    Ojango Omondi, a member of the Social Justice Centres Working Group, a community activist group in a poor district of Nairobi, said creating formal structures and designating national representatives could let the movement be corrupted by politicians.
    “We don’t need to negotiate anything. All we want is better living conditions,” he said.
    “All we want is the leaders to stop using our resources … to sponsor their lavish lifestyle.”
    Omondi said there was plenty to keep the past week’s protesters engaged – from organising funerals for the nearly two dozen people killed in clashes with police on Tuesday to forcing recall elections against members of parliament.
    Another key moment could be the government’s next bid to pass a finance bill, which is needed to fund expenditures in the upcoming fiscal year.
    Some protesters suspect the government will still try to jam through tax raises.
    In a country where ethnic affinities have traditionally been a key driver of protest, the current youth-driven demonstrations have stood out for building unity around common grievances.
    But cracks are already emerging.
    Even with Ruto’s U-turn on the tax hikes, some protesters called for a planned march on the presidential residence to go ahead on Thursday in an attempt to force the president from power.
    Others rejected the idea as a dangerous gambit.
    In the end, there were protests in several cities, although they were smaller than on Tuesday.
    In Ruto’s hometown and political stronghold of Eldoret, where thousands from different ethnic groups took to the streets on Tuesday, a human rights activist said some tensions were resurfacing since the president withdrew the bill.
    Nicholas Omito, CEO of the Centre for Human Rights and Mediation, said demonstrators from Ruto’s Kalenjin ethnic group were arguing that protests should end now that the bill was dropped.
    Ethnic Kikuyu demonstrators were insisting they should continue until Ruto resigned.
    Nyabola, the writer, conceded that the solidarity on display as Kenyans across all walks of life took to the streets in the bold showdown with their government could not undo the country’s long history of ethnic division.
    “You’re never going to get rid of it completely,” she said, adding: “But for now the class and wealth disparity between politicians and ordinary people has been the focus.” (Reuters/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
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    (Edited by Emmanuel Yashim)

  • Japan’s Kobayashi Pharma probes dietary supplements deaths

    Japan’s Kobayashi Pharma probes dietary supplements deaths

    Deaths

    Tokyo, June 28, 2024 (Xinhua/NAN) Japanese drug maker Kobayashi Pharmaceutical firm said that it is looking into the 76 more deaths linked to the consumption of its red yeast rice dietary supplements.

    Local media reported on Friday.

    The scandal-hit company previously confirmed in March that five people had died after taking the “beni-koji choleste help” supplements, and recalled the products.

    However, on Friday it corrected the figure to four, saying one did not use the supplements, Kyodo News reported.

    Meanwhile, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Keizo Takemi revealed the drugmaker has failed to report to the government appropriately.

    Referring to the surge in the number of cases, Takemi said it was “extremely regrettable” that the company had not chosen to report to the ministry the updated number of suspected deaths since March.

    Takemi told reporters that the ministry will be directly involved in the investigating process and provide updates to the public, saying, “We cannot leave Kobayashi Pharmaceutical alone to handle it anymore.”

    The health ministry has asked Kobayashi Pharmaceutical to formulate and submit a plan by Saturday to investigate the 76 deaths that remained under suspicion as health hazards to the families and medical institutions.(Xinhua/NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Halima Sheji

     

     

     

  • Democrats scramble to limit damage after Biden’s wobbly debate showing against Trump

    Democrats scramble to limit damage after Biden’s wobbly debate showing against Trump

    Scramble

    Atlanta, June 28, 2024 (Reuters/NAN) President Joe Biden’s allies scrambled on Friday to contain the fallout from his faltering performance at the first 2024 U.S. presidential debate after he struggled to stem a barrage of attacks and false claims from his Republican rival Donald Trump.
    The Biden campaign had hoped that a strong debate would quell concerns among voters that the 81-year-old Democratic incumbent is too old to serve a second four-year term.
    Instead, a hoarse-sounding Biden stumbled over his words at times, especially in the early stages of the debate.
    One Biden donor, who asked for anonymity to speak freely about the president, called his performance “disqualifying” and predicted that some Democrats would revisit calls for Biden to step aside in favor of another candidate ahead of the party’s national convention in August.
    Panicking Democrats exchanged messages wondering whether Biden would consider stepping down.
    One senior Democratic strategist said it would be unprecedented for an incumbent to pull out this late in the election cycle, but there would be calls for Biden to do just that.
    Interviews with undecided voters confirmed that it was a bad night for Biden.
    They described his showing as feeble, embarrassing, and difficult to watch.
    Two White House officials said mid-debate that Biden had a cold, but that only further reflected his aides’ anxiety about his performance.
    Vice President Kamala Harris conceded that Biden had a “slow start” but argued that his record over 3-1/2 years as president outweighed one 90-minute event.
    California Governor Gavin Newsom – who could be a leading Democratic alternative if Biden stepped aside – dismissed the notion that Biden could be replaced.
    Trump, 78, has also faced questions about his fitness for office, given his conviction last month in New York for covering up hush money payments to a porn star, his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and his chaotic term in office.
    But despite a litany of falsehoods from Trump during the debate, the focus in the aftermath was squarely on the incumbent.
    Neither candidate is popular, and polls show many Americans are dissatisfied with their options.
    The country is deeply polarised, and a majority of voters have expressed concern that political violence could follow the election.
    The debate at CNN headquarters in Atlanta took place far earlier in the campaign than any modern presidential debate, with more than four months – an eternity in U.S. politics – before the Nov. 5 election. (Reuters/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
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    (Edited by Emmanuel Yashim)

  • Flights suspended at Delhi airport after roof collapses, killing 1

    Flights suspended at Delhi airport after roof collapses, killing 1

    Flights

    New Delhi, June 28, 2024 (dpa/NAN) Some flights from New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport were suspended on Friday morning after a section of Terminal 1’s roof collapsed following heavy rain, the airport authorities said.

    At least one person was killed and six were injured, broadcaster NDTV news channel and news agency PTI reported. The victims were in four vehicles on which the beams collapsed, according to NDTV.

    “Due to heavy rain since early this morning, a portion of the canopy at the old Departure forecourt of Delhi Airport’s Terminal 1 collapsed around 5 am (2330 GMT Thursday),” the airport authorities said in a statement, adding that “there are injuries reported.”

    All departures from Terminal 1 were initially suspended.

    In an 8:45 am update, the airport said all flights from Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 were “fully operational,” while departing flights from Terminal 1 “are cancelled till 2 pm today.” (dpa/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    (Edited by Emmanuel Yashim)

  • KDSG sensitises residents on risks of poor environmental hygiene

    KDSG sensitises residents on risks of poor environmental hygiene

    hygiene

    By Ezra Musa

    Kaduna, June. 28, 2024 (NAN) The Kaduna State Government on Friday began a state-wide sensitisation campaign on the health risks of poor environmental hygiene.

    Dr Hadiza Balarabe, the Deputy Governor, made this known during a road walk exercise to mark the World Sanitation Day on Friday in Kaduna.

    The 28th of June every year was declared National Environmental Sanitation Day by the Federal Government in 2005.

    It is a day set aside to create awareness on the essence of proper hygiene practices for the prevention of communicable diseases.

    The theme for this year’s commemoration is “Environmental sanitation in the era of climate change, Go greener, Stay clean; Climate change is real”.

    According to her, the aim is to sensitise the residents on proper environmental sanitation and hygiene practices in the face of the Cholera outbreak in the country.

    Balarabe said, ” We all know that unsanitary environment are responsible for diseases, so we are raising awareness to ensure that the environment is devoid of harm arising from poor environmental hygiene.”

    She said it was also necessary to keep the environment safe in the face of climate change, adding, ”so people can make informed decisions while felling trees and practices that affect the environment.”

    Balarabe assured that the state would maintain a clean sanitary environment for a greener state.

    Also speaking, Abubakar Buba, Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, said the exercise was to help nurture community responsibility and the importance of a healthy environment in the minds of the residents.

    He said that the state would close all community dumpsites while commencing on house to house refuse pick-ups.

    On sustainability of the sanitation, Buba, assured that the state would be resuming the monthly sanitation exercise for a cleaner environment.

    He called on all the residents to ensure that wastes were being packaged properly for evacuation.

    Usman Hassan, Chairman, Solid Waste Association, Kaduna chapter, said its members would continue to motivate the residents towards maintaining good hygiene.

    He assured that the efforts of the scheme to maintain a clean environment would  not be compromised.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani

  • Russia says NATO conducting nuclear strike drills near its border

    Russia says NATO conducting nuclear strike drills near its border

    Nuclear

    Moscow, May 28, 2024 (Xinhua/NAN) NATO is practising nuclear strikes against Russia, Army General Vladimir Kulishov, first deputy director of Russia’s Federal Security Service and Head of the Border Service, said on Tuesday.

    “Near the Russian border, NATO reconnaissance activity is increasing, and the intensity of operational combat training of the alliance’s troops is increasing.

    “During which scenarios for conducting combat operations against the Russian Federation are being practised, including launching nuclear strikes on our territory,’’ he said in an interview with Russia’s RIA Novosti.

    “All this requires us to take adequate measures to protect and secure our borders,’’ Kulishov said.

    The Russian military earlier launched military drills involving tactical nuclear weapons as a “response to provocative statements and threats of individual Western officials against the Russian Federation,’’ according to the defence ministry. (Xinhua/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

    COO/BHB

    Edited by Cecilia Odey/Buhari Bolaji

     

  • Voting begins for Iran’s 14th presidential election

    Voting begins for Iran’s 14th presidential election

    Election

    Tehran, June 28, 2024 (Xinhua/NAN) Voting for Iran’s 14th presidential election started at 8 a.m. (0430 GMT) on Friday, after President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash in May.

    “We start the elections” for the country’s 14th presidential elections, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in a televised address.

    Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei cast the first ballot at a polling station, and made a brief speech calling for the unity of the Iranian people during the election.

    The voting will be held at close to 59,000 polling stations in more than 95 states, and over 61 million people are eligible to vote in the election, according to authorities.

    Iran’s 14th presidential election, initially set for 2025, was rescheduled following Raisi’s unexpected death.

    Initially, six candidates were qualified to enter the race, namely; Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, the current vice president; Alireza Zakani, the mayor of Tehran; Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the parliamentary speaker.

    Others were Saeed Jalili, the former top negotiator for nuclear talks; Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a former interior minister and justice minister; and Masoud Pezeshkian, a former health minister.

    Later on, Hashemi and Zakani two principlist candidates, withdrew from the race in favor of Qalibaf and Jalili, who are also in the principlists’ camp.(Xinhua/NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Halima Sheji