Thousands in US demonstrate for abortion rights as midterm elections approach

Thousands marched in cities across the United States on Saturday to protest the Supreme Court's overturning of the federal right to abortion and to urge voters to turn out in a Democratic "blue wave" in next month's key midterm elections.


Thousands in US demonstrate for abortion rights as midterm elections approach

© Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, Reuters

In Washington, a crowd of mostly women chanted "We won't go back" as they marched.

They carried posters calling for a "feminist tsunami" and urging people to "vote to save women's rights."

"I don't want to have to go back to a different time," Emily Bobal, an 18-year-old student, told AFP.

"It's kind of ridiculous that we still have to do this in 2022," she said, adding that she is concerned that the conservative-dominated high court might next target same-sex marriage.

"The majority of us are ready to get out and fight for democracy and fight for people's bodily autonomy, women and men," said Kimberly Allen, 70.

With Democrats battling to maintain their narrow control of Congress, the midterm elections could have a decisive impact on the future of such rights, she said.

Related video: Abortion and the November election
Duration 2:48   View on Watch

Several marchers wore armbands or scarves of green, a color symbolizing abortion rights.

Others wore blue -- the color of the Democratic Party -- and carried huge flags and banners calling for a symbolic "blue wave" of voters to go to the polls on November 8.

A few counter-protesters made their presence known, some of them urging the crowd to "find Jesus Christ," while others shouted that "abortion is murder." They were met with boos.

Similar rallies took place in cities including New York and Denver, Colorado.

"The #WomensWave is coming for EVERY anti-abortion politician, no matter where they live," Rachel O'Leary Carmona, executive director of the nonprofit Women's March organization, said on Twitter.

She urged people to elect "more women" as well as male candidates who support abortion rights.

Polls show Democrats only have a slim possibility of maintaining control of the House of Representatives, but their chances are better in the evenly-divided Senate, where Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris is the tie-breaking vote.

While Republicans have been campaigning largely on soaring prices, immigration concerns and urban crime, Democrats led by President Joe Biden want to shift the debate to abortion rights and the defense of American democracy.

The Supreme Court in June ended the decades-long federal protection of abortion rights, leaving it to individual states to set their own rules.

Since then, several Republican-led states have banned or severely curtailed access to the procedure, provoking a series of legal challenges.

In the latest development, an appeals court in the southwestern state of Arizona on Friday blocked -- at least for now -- a near-total ban on abortions.

(AFP)

Abortion Rights Protesters Turn Out Ahead Of 'Roevember' Midterm Elections

See photos from the nationwide demonstrations.

By Sara Boboltz
Oct 8, 2022, 


A "VOTE" sign appears outside the U.S. Capitol.
SHANNON FINNEY VIA GETTY IMAGES

With exactly one month until the 2022 midterm elections, supporters of abortion rights turned out Saturday in places across the country to highlight the gravity of the issues at stake.

Control over the Senate and the House, both currently in the hands of Democrats, is considered to be up for grabs ― and with it, the future of reproductive health care in America.

Republican lawmakers have been taking increasingly tough stances against abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade this summer. This 1973 ruling made abortion legal nationwide. Some states, such as Texas and Oklahoma, now do not even allow abortion in cases of rape or incest; exceptions to their abortion bans can only be made in very limited circumstances to save the pregnant patient’s life. Criminal penalties in certain states mean that medical practitioners might be risking their freedom and livelihood if they perform an abortion in a case that does not conform to lawmakers’ restrictions.

What’s more, a conservative movement is underway to grant fetuses rights that would inevitably clash with women’s rights to make their own healthcare decisions.

With all that in mind, demonstrators appeared united behind a push to get out the vote on Nov. 8 at a series of “Women’s Wave” events organized by the Women’s March.

Some demonstrators came with signs casting this coming November as “Roevember,” a referendum on abortion. Already the abortion issue has upended midterm races and forced some conservative candidates to tone down their rhetoric in the aftermath of what has proven to be a widely unpopular Supreme Court decision.

Have a look at some of the events below.

Thousands of protesters turn out in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 8.
SHANNON FINNEY VIA GETTY IMAGES


Supporters of abortion rights demonstrate outside of the Harris County Courthouse in Houston, Texas.
MARK FELIX VIA GETTY IMAGES


Women's Wave marchers showed up to demonstrate in Houston, Texas.
MARK FELIX VIA GETTY IMAGES


Demonstrators appear in New York City's Foley Square.
BRYAN R. SMITH VIA GETTY IMAGES


A woman picks out a button in Washington, D.C.
ROBERTO SCHMIDT VIA GETTY IMAGES




Thousands gathered in the nation's capital to rally for reproductive rights.
ROBERTO SCHMIDT VIA GETTY IMAGES

A Texas protester holds a sign with the Margaret Sanger quote, "No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body."
MARK FELIX VIA GETTY IMAGES

A New York City demonstrator yells at anti-abortion protestors.
BRYAN R. SMITH VIA GETTY IMAGES


A detail of a protester's hat is seen at the Washington, D.C., event.
SHANNON FINNEY VIA GETTY IMAGES


A demonstrator in New York City holds up a photo of Mahsa Amini in solidarity with protesters in Iran fighting for women's rights. The 22-year-old Amini was killed in the custody of Iran's religious police for improperly wearing her headscarf. Her death in mid-September has sparked weeks of heated protests.
BRYAN R. SMITH VIA GETTY IMAGES



Demonstrators hold signs criticizing the U.S. Supreme Court in New York City.
BRYAN R. SMITH VIA GETTY IMAGES


New York City demonstrators hold signs saying, "THIS ROEVEMBER: ROE, ROE, ROE YOUR VOTE TO TURN THE TIDE!" Another reads: "ROEVEMBER IS COMING. VOTE."
BRYAN R. SMITH VIA GETTY IMAGES


A young girl surveys the crowd from up high in Washington, D.C.
SHANNON FINNEY VIA GETTY IMAGES

Jailed Duterte critic held hostage during deadly breakout attempt

By AFP
09 October 2022 | 


Former Philippine senator and human rights campaigner Leila de Lima (C) leaves after attending her hearing at the Muntinlupa Trial Court in Metro Manila on September 30, 2022. (Photo by JAM STA ROSA / AFP)

Jailed Philippine human rights campaigner Leila de Lima was briefly taken hostage Sunday during an attempted breakout by three detained militants who were shot dead by police, authorities said.

The incident happened at the national police headquarters, where de Lima, a former senator, has been held for more than five years with other high-profile detainees.

A police officer handing out breakfast was stabbed with a fork by an inmate, who then freed two others from their cells.

Two of the prisoners were shot dead by a sniper, Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos told reporters.

The third prisoner ran to de Lima’s cell. He tied up and blindfolded the 63-year-old, before a police officer shot him in the head, Abalos said.

Police said de Lima was safe and the situation inside the detention facility had “returned to normal”. An investigation was underway.

Police chief General Rodolfo Azurin said the three inmates were members of the militant group Abu Sayyaf, which has been accused of kidnapping and beheading several foreigners.

De Lima did not appear to have been the target, Azurin told local radio station DZBB.

“They saw her as an ideal cover. Their intention really was to escape,” he said.

De Lima was unhurt, Boni Tacardon, her lawyer, confirmed to AFP.

“She was brought to the hospital for the standard medical check-up,” Tacardon said.

“But based on the information given to us by our staff who’s with the senator now, she appears OK.”

Calls to free de Lima

De Lima, an outspoken critic of former president Rodrigo Duterte and his deadly drug war, is due to appear in court on Monday.

She has been behind bars since 2017 on drug trafficking charges that she and human rights groups have called a mockery of justice and payback for going after Duterte.

Since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr took power in June, there have been renewed calls from diplomats and rights defenders for de Lima to be released.

The latest incident underscored the need for her to be “freed immediately”, said Carlos Conde of Human Rights Watch.

Marcos tweeted that he would speak to de Lima “to check on her condition and to ask if she wishes to be transferred to another detention center”.

But Tacardon said de Lima did not want to be transferred.

For now, de Lima and her defence team were considering their options, including the hospital inside the national police headquarters.

Before her arrest on February 24, 2017, de Lima had spent a decade investigating “death squad” killings allegedly orchestrated by Duterte during his time as Davao City mayor and in the early days of his presidency.

She conducted the probes while serving as the nation’s human rights commissioner, then from 2010 to 2015 as justice secretary in the Benigno Aquino administration that preceded Duterte’s rule.

De Lima won a Senate seat in 2016, becoming one of the few opposition voices as the populist Duterte enjoyed a landslide win.

But Duterte then accused her of running a drug trafficking ring with criminals inside the nation’s biggest prison while she was justice secretary.

De Lima lost her bid for re-election to the Senate in May and Duterte stepped down in June.

The lawyer and mother of two has been held in a compound for high-profile detainees, rather than one of the Philippines’ notoriously overcrowded jails.

NOT U$A; IRAN

"The Police are the Murderers of the People" 

Iran state TV hacked with image of supreme leader in crosshairs

Stuart Williams with Frank Zeller in Nicosia
Sun, October 9, 2022 


WATCH: Iran state TV hacked with image of supreme leader in crosshairs

Hackers backing Iran's wave of women-led protests interrupted a state TV news broadcast with an image of gun-sight crosshairs and flames over the face of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in footage widely shared online on Sunday.

In other anti-regime messages, activists have spray-painted "Death to Khamenei" and "The Police are the Murderers of the People" on public billboards in Tehran.

"The blood of our youths is on your hands," read an on-screen message that flashed up briefly during the TV broadcast Saturday evening, as street protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, again rocked Tehran and other cities.

"Police forces used tear gas to disperse the crowds in dozens of locations in Tehran," state news agency IRNA reported, adding the demonstrators "chanted slogans and set fire to and damaged public property, including a police booth".

Anger has flared since the death of Amini on September 16, three days after the young Kurdish woman was arrested by the notorious morality police for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.

"Join us and rise up," read another message in the TV hack claimed by the group Edalat-e Ali (Ali's Justice).

It also posted pictures of Amini and three other women killed in the crackdown that has claimed at least 95 lives according to Norway-based group Iran Human Rights.

Another 90 people were killed in Iran's far southeast, in unrest on September 30 sparked by the alleged rape of a teenage girl by a police chief in Sistan-Baluchestan province, said IHR, citing the UK-based Baluch Activists Campaign.

One Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps member was killed Saturday in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, and a member of the Guards' Basij paramilitary force died in Tehran from "a serious head injury following an armed attack by a mob," IRNA said -- in killings that raised the death toll among security forces to 14.
- 'So many protests' -

Iran has been torn by the biggest wave of social unrest in almost three years, which has seen protesters, including university students and even young schoolgirls chant "Woman, Life, Freedom".

"Videos coming out from Tehran indicate that there are so many protests, in every corner of the city, in small and big numbers," said US-based campaigner and journalist Omid Memarian on Twitter.


In Amini's hometown Saqez, Kurdistan, schoolgirls chanted and marched down a street swinging their hijab headscarves in the air, in videos the Hengaw rights group said were recorded on Saturday.

Gruesome footage has emerged from the state's often bloody response, spread online despite widespread internet outages and blocks on all the major social media platforms.

One video shows a man who was shot dead at the wheel of his car in Sanandaj, Kurdistan's capital, where the province's police chief, Ali Azadi, later charged he was "killed by anti-revolutionary forces".


Angry men then appear to take revenge on a member of the feared Basij militia, swarming him and beating him badly, in another widely shared video.

Yet another video clip shows a young woman said to have been shot dead in Mashhad in the country's northeast.

Many on social media said it evoked footage of Neda Agha Soltan, a young woman who became an enduring symbol of the Iranian opposition after she was shot dead at protests in 2009.

- 'Not afraid anymore' -

In the face of the violence and the online restrictions, protesters have adopted new tactics to spread their message of resistance in public spaces.

"We are not afraid anymore. We will fight," read one large banner placed on an overpass of Tehran's Modares highway, seen in images verified by AFP.

In other footage, a man with a spray can is seen altering the wording of a government billboard on the same highway from "The Police are the Servants of the People" to "The Police are the Murderers of the People".

Several water features in the Iranian capital were said to have been coloured blood-red, but the head of city’s municipality parks organisation Ali Mohamad Mokhtari said: "This information is completely false and there isn't any change in the colors of fountains in Tehran".

Iran has accused outside forces of stirring up the protests, as solidarity protests have been held in scores of cities worldwide. The United States, European Union and other governments have imposed new sanctions on Iran.

On Amini's death, Iran said Friday that a forensic investigation had found that she died as a result of a long-standing medical condition, rather than of blows to the head as claimed by activists.

Amini's father told London-based Iran International that he rejected the official report: "I saw with my own eyes that blood had come from Mahsa's ears and the back of her neck."

burs/sjw-fz/jkb

‘We will fight’: Iran protests following death of Mahsa Amini enter fourth week

Schoolgirls chanted slogans, workers went on strike and protesters clashed violently with security forces across Iran on Saturday, as demonstrations over the death of Mahsa Amini entered a fourth week. 

‘Not afraid’: Violence escalates as Mahsa Amini protests in Iran enter fourth week

Protests intensified when Iran claimed Amini died of a longstanding illness rather than 'blows' to the head. Her family rejected the official report.

Demonstrators in New York hold a sign in support of the protesters in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini. Photo: AFP/Bryan R. Smith

Schoolgirls chanted slogans and workers clashed violently with security forces as Iran protests over the death of Mahsa Amini entered the fourth week.

Anger flared after the 22-year-old Iranian Kurd’s death on 16 September, three days after her arrest in Tehran by the notorious morality police for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.

Mahsa Amini protests

Cause of death controversy

Iran said on Friday an investigation found Amini had died of a longstanding illness rather than “blows” to the head, despite her family reportedly saying she had previously been healthy.

Mahsa Amini’s father told London-based Iran International that he rejected the official report.

“I saw with my own eyes that blood had come from Mahsa’s ears and back of her neck,” the outlet quoted him as saying Saturday.

‘Woman, life, freedom’

The women-led protests continued even as ultraconservative President Ebrahim Raisi posed for a group photograph with students at Tehran’s all-female Al-Zahra University to mark the new academic year.

Young women on the same campus were seen shouting “Death to the oppressor”, said the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR).

In Amini’s hometown Saqez, in Kurdistan province, schoolgirls chanted “Woman, life, freedom” and marched down a street swinging headscarves in the air, in videos the Hengaw rights group said were recorded on Saturday.

Violence ensues

Gruesome videos were widely shared online of a man who was shot dead while sitting at the wheel of his car in Sanandaj, Kurdistan’s capital.

The province’s police chief, Ali Azadi, said he was “killed by anti-revolutionary forces”.

ALSO READ: Iran supreme leader blames US, Israel for Mahsa Amini protests

Angry men appeared to take revenge on a member of the feared Basij militia in Sanandaj, swarming around him and beating him badly, in a widely shared video.

Internet monitor Netblocks reported outages in Sanandaj, and national mobile network disruptions.

Another shocking video shows a young woman said to have been shot dead in Mashhad. Many on social media compared it to footage of Neda Agha Soltan, a young woman who became an enduring symbol of the opposition after being shot dead at protests in 2009.

‘We will fight’

Despite internet restrictions, protesters have adopted new tactics to get their message across.

“We are not afraid anymore. We will fight,” said a large banner placed on an overpass of Tehran’s Modares highway, according to online images verified by AFP.

In other footage, a man is seen altering the wording of a large government billboard on the same highway from “The police are the servants of the people” to “The police are the murderers of the people”.

The ISNA news agency reported a heavy security presence in the capital, especially near universities. It said “scattered and limited gatherings” were held in Tehran during which “some demonstrators destroyed public property”.

Street protests were also reported in Isfahan, Karaj, Shiraz and Tabriz, among other cities. US-based campaigner and journalist Omid Memarian tweeted:

“Videos coming out from Tehran indicate that there are so many protests, in every corner of the city, in small and big numbers.”

ALSO READ: Biden warns Iran to face ‘costs’ for crackdown on Amini protests

Hengaw, a Norway-based Kurdish rights group, said “widespread strikes” took place in Saqez, Sanandaj and Divandarreh, in Kurdistan province, as well as Mahabad in West Azerbaijan.

‘Blind eye’

IHR said at least 95 protesters have been killed in the crackdown, which has fuelled tensions between Iran and the West, especially its arch-enemy the United States.

Citing the UK-based Baluch Activists Campaign, IHR said another 90 people had been killed in Sistan-Baluchestan province after accusations that a regional police chief had raped a teenage girl triggered unrest there.

Raisi – who in July called for the mobilisation of all state institutions to enforce hijab rules – met Saturday evening with the judiciary chief and the parliament speaker, state news agency IRNA reported.

“They stressed that Iranian society now needs unity of all strata regardless of language, religion and ethnicity to overcome the hostility and divisiveness against Iran,” IRNA said.
International conflict

Iran has repeatedly accused outside forces of stirring up the protests, and last week announced that nine foreign nationals – including from France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands – had been arrested.

On Friday, France advised its nationals visiting Iran to “leave the country as soon as possible”, citing the risk of arbitrary detention.

The Netherlands advised its citizens to avoid travelling to Iran or to leave when they can do so safely.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian charity worker held in Tehran for six years until her release in March, called on the UK government to act over Iran’s rights abuses.

“We cannot be indifferent about what is happening in Iran,” she told Sky News. “And I think we have to hold Iran accountable.”

NOW READ: Iran targets celebrities, journalists over Mahsa Amini protests

© Agence France-Presse

Iran protests: Germany's top diplomat says regime on 'wrong side of history'

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the EU would impose new sanctions on Iranians responsible for the "brutal repression" of protesters.

The protests in Iran have led to marches in solidarity around the world

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Sunday that she would ensure the European Union imposes entry bans on individuals who are responsible for cracking down on protesters in Iran.

Baerbock made the comments to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, adding the EU would also freeze their assets in the 27-member bloc.

Baerbock criticized Iranian authorities, saying, "Anyone who beats up women and girls in the streets, abducts people who want nothing more to live freely … is on the wrong side of history."

Baerbock had earlier called on the Iranian leadership to pay heed to protesters' demands since they were demanding basic rights.

Iranian authorities have cracked down on the protests, now in their fourth week, with human rights groups estimating that 185 people have been killed and hundreds arrested.

Iran holds crisis meeting

Meanwhile, Iran's political leaders held a crisis meeting Sunday as protests against the death of Mahsa Amini gathered momentum.

Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, died in police custody in September after being detained by Iran's "morality police" for not wearing her hijab (or headscarves) properly.

Her death has sparked an unprecedented wave of protests across cities in Iran, with women cutting their hair and burning their hijabs to protest the hijab law, which requires women to cover their hair and wear loose-fitting long clothes.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the speaker of the parliament and the head of judiciary attended the meeting on Sunday, Iran's presidential office said.  

2 killed as protests continue

The crisis meeting came after at least two protesters were killed Saturday in a majority Kurdish city in northern Iran, according to reports by French-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network and the Norwegian-registered Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.

"Security forces are shooting at the protesters in Sanandaj and Saqqez," Hengaw said on Saturday, adding that riot police were also using tear gas to disperse protesters.

Protests have flared across cities in Iran, with demonstrators often clashing with security forces in the last few weeks. At least 185 people, including several children, have been killed during the unrest, the Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based group, said Sunday.

Hackers briefly take over 9 p.m. news

Additionally, Iran's state-run broadcaster was hacked Saturday night.

A mask first appeared on the screen, followed by a photo of Ayatollah Khamenei with flames around him.

"The blood of our youths is on your hands," read a message on the screen.

The group that claimed it, Edalat-e Ali (Ali's Justice), also added a message on the top of the screen: "Join us and rise up."

They added an image of Amini and three others who had been killed in the unrest over the last few weeks.

Questions over Amini's cause of death

A state coroner's report earlier this week said Amini's death was not caused by any blow to the head and limbs. It did not say whether she suffered any injuries.

The report linked Amini's death to pre-existing medical conditions, according to state media reports.

Amini's father said she suffered bruises to her legs and has held the police responsible for her death.

rm/wd (Reuters, AFP, dpa) 

Protests grip Iran as rights group says 19 children killed

By Parisa Hafezi

A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the Islamic republic's "morality police", in Tehran, Iran September 19, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency)


DUBAI, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Protests ignited by the death of a young woman in police custody continued across Iran on Sunday in defiance of a crackdown by the authorities, as a human rights group said at least 185 people, including children, had been killed in demonstrations.

Anti-government protests that began on Sept. 17 at the funeral of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in her Kurdish town of Saqez, have turned into the biggest challenge to Iran's clerical leaders in years, with protesters calling for the downfall of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"At least 185 people, including at least 19 children, have been killed in the nationwide protests across Iran. The highest number of killings occurred in Sistan and Baluchistan province with half the recorded number," the Norway-based Iran Human Rights said on Saturday.

Authorities have described the protests as a plot by Iran's foes, including the United States. They have accused armed dissidents amongst others of violence that has reportedly left at least 20 members of the security forces dead.

Videos shared on social media showed protests in dozens of cities across Iran early on Sunday with hundreds of high school girls and university students participating despite the use of tear gas, clubs, and in many cases live ammunition by the security forces, rights groups said.

The Iranian authorities have denied that live bullets have been used.

'DON'T HIT MY WIFE, SHE IS PREGNANT'

A video posted on Twitter by the widely-followed activist 1500tasvir showed security forces armed with clubs attacking students at a high school in Tehran.

In another video, a man shouted "don't hit my wife, she is pregnant," while trying to protect her from riot police in the city of Rafsanjan on Saturday.

A video shared by Twitter account Mamlekate, which has more than 150,000 followers, showed security forces chasing dozens of school girls in the city of Bandar Abbas. Social media posts said shops were closed in several cities after activists called for a mass strike.

Reuters could not verify the videos and posts. Details of casualties have trickled out slowly, partly because of internet restrictions imposed by the authorities.

Meanwhile, the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted deputy interior minister warning of harsh sentences for those it referred to as rioters.

Amini was arrested in Tehran on Sept. 13 for wearing "inappropriate attire". She died three days later at a Tehran hospital.

A state coroner's report on Saturday said Amini had died from pre-existing medical conditions. Her father has held the police responsible for her death with the family lawyer saying "respectable doctors" believe she was beaten while in custody.

While the United States and Canada have already placed sanctions on Iranian authorities, the European Union was considering imposing asset freezes and travel bans on Iranian officials.

"Those who beat up (Iranian) women and girls on the street, who abduct, arbitrarily imprison and condemn to death people who want nothing other than to live free - they stand on the wrong side of history," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday.

SEE

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/10/nika-shahkarami-16-year-old-girl-whose.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/10/women-students-tell-irans-president-to.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/10/disputing-irans-version-mom-says-teen.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/10/iranian-schoolgirls-come-to-fore-in.html

PETRO POLITICS

Energy Firm Starts Tests at Sensitive Israel-Lebanon Border Gas Field

October 09, 2022 
Agence France-Presse

This handout picture released by Energean oil and gas company on Sept. 20, 2022 shows an Energean Floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) ship in the Karish field, an offshore gas field in the Mediterranean sea which is claimed by Israel and partly by Lebanon.

JERUSALEM —

London-listed firm Energean on Sunday began testing pipes between Israel and the Karish offshore gas field, a key step towards production from the eastern Mediterranean site, a source of friction between neighbors Israel and Lebanon.

Israel has maintained that Karish falls entirely within its territory and is not a subject of negotiation at ongoing, U.S.-mediated maritime border talks with Lebanon. The two countries remain technically at war.

Lebanon has reportedly made claims to parts of Karish and the Iran-backed Shiite group Hezbollah, which holds huge influence in Lebanon, has previously threatened attacks if Israel began production from the field.

In a statement Sunday, Energean said that "following approval received from the Israeli Ministry of Energy to start certain testing procedures, the flow of gas from onshore to the FPSO has commenced," referring to the Karish floating production storage offloading facility.

The tests, set to take a number of weeks, were "an important step" towards extracting gas from the Karish, Energean said.

Lebanon and Israel have engaged in on-off indirect talks since 2020 to delineate their Mediterranean border, which could allow both countries to boost offshore natural gas exploration.

A draft agreement floated by U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein aims to settle competing claims over offshore gas fields and was delivered to Lebanese and Israeli officials in recent days.

Israel had welcomed the terms set out by Hochstein and said they would be subjected to legal review but gave no indication it sought substantive changes.

Lebanon presented its response to Washington's proposal on Tuesday.

Israel said two days later that it planned to reject Beirut's proposed amendment, even if that jeopardizes a possible agreement.

Israel reiterated this week that production at Karish would begin as soon as possible, regardless of Lebanon's demands.

On Saturday, the French foreign ministry said Paris was "actively contributing to the American mediation."

Under the terms of the U.S. draft agreement leaked to the press, all of Karish would fall under Israeli control, while Qana, another potential gas field, would be divided but its exploitation would be under Lebanon's control.

French company Total would be licensed to search for gas in the Qana field, and Israel would receive a share of future revenue.

Greece and Egypt call Turkish-Libyan gas deal 'illegal'

Sun, October 9, 2022 


Egypt and Greece on Sunday said a deal allowing Turkish hydrocarbon exploration in Libya's Mediterranean waters was "illegal" as Athens said it would oppose it by all "legal means".

On Monday, Turkey said it had signed a memorandum of understanding on exploration for hydrocarbons in Libya's seas with the authorities in Tripoli.

"This agreement threatens stability and security in the Mediterranean," Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said in Cairo, where he met his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry.

The deal follows an agreement Turkey signed three years ago with Tripoli that demarcated the countries' shared maritime borders.


Greece, Egypt and Cyprus believe the 2019 agreement violates their economic rights in an area suspected to contain vast natural gas reserves.

"We will use all legal means to defend our rights," Dendias added.

He said Tripoli "does not have the necessary sovereignty over this area", and that the agreement is therefore "illegal and inadmissible".

Shoukry charged that the mandate of the authorities in Tripoli has "expired" and that "the government of Tripoli does not have the legitimacy to sign agreements".

A rival Libyan administration in the war-torn country's east -- which since March has been attempting to take office in Tripoli and also argues the government's mandate has expired -- has rejected the accord.

Monday's deal builds on an agreement signed between Ankara and a previous Tripoli-based administration in 2019, at the height of a battle for the capital after eastern-based military chief Khalifa Haftar attempted to seize it by force.

The delivery of Turkish drones to Tripoli-based forces shortly afterwards was seen as crucial in the victory over Haftar, who was backed at the time by Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.

The question of rights to Libya's vast hydrocarbon resources has become more urgent this year as global energy prices have soared.

The European Union has denounced the 2019 maritime border deal, while France has said the recent agreement was "not in accordance with international law".

sar/sbh/pjm/lg

French Nobel Prize winner Ernaux endorses inflation, climate protest against Macron

French author Annie Ernaux, who was awarded the Nobel Literature Prize this week, signed an open letter Sunday supporting a mass protest against President Emmanuel Macron called by the country's left-wing opposition.


French Nobel Prize winner Ernaux endorses inflation, climate protest against Macron© Johanna Geron, Reuters

Organisers of the demonstration on October 16 accuse Macron of failing to tackle soaring prices for energy and other essentials, and insufficient action against climate change.

"Emmanuel Macron is seizing this inflation to widen the wealth gaps, and boost the profits of capital, at everyone else's expense," said the letter in the Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

Related video: French author wins Nobel prize for Literature
Duration 1:35   View on Watch

"And this shock is allowing this government of the rich to open a new phase: attack the pillars of our solidarity, the heart of our social protection — first with employment benefits, and now the pension system."


Ernaux, 82, was listed first and among the most prominent of the 69 signatories that included fellow authors as well as economists, professors and activists.

Macron, a former investment banker, had hailed Ernaux's winning of the Nobel, calling her voice "that of the freedom of women and of the forgotten".

But the unusual public criticism from a writer whose profoundly intimate and feminist works have achieved widespread acclaim in recent years could bolster anger over his plan to make the French work longer.

Huge strikes greeted his first attempt to push back the retirement age from 62 to 65 two years ago, before he called off the pensions overhaul with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

His government, which does not have a majority in parliament, has vowed to consult with unions and other parties on a reform it considers urgent, but insists a bill will be voted on in the coming months.

(AFP)

Explainer: Marijuana pardons in U.S. help thousands, leave others in prison

By Sharon Bernstein

Oct 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's pardon for thousands of Americans convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law has profound impact, experts and individuals say, even if it affects fewer people than similar state and local initiatives. Biden has called on governors to issue similar pardons regarding state marijuana offenses.

WHO IS AFFECTED?

Biden's pardons announced Oct. 6 affect about 6,500 people convicted of cannabis possession at the federal level. None remain in prison. Without a felony on their record, they won't be tripped up when applying for a job or trying to rent an apartment. Research by the American Civil Liberties Union has shown Black Americans are nearly four times as likely as whites to be arrested for marijuana possession.

WHO ISN'T

Biden's pardon does not affect some 3,000 people convicted of higher level marijuana crimes who remain in federal prisons, and as many as 30,000 who are still in prison in several states, according to the advocacy group the Last Prisoner Project. Those numbers do not reflect people with convictions for marijuana possession at the state level, although approximately 2 million marijuana convictions have been expunged or pardoned by states where the drug is now legal.

SPEAKING OF THE STATES

Biden has called on governors to give similar pardons in their states, where most possession cases are prosecuted.

Kevin Sabet, an opponent of marijuana legalization who runs the group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said in an interview that he thinks Biden's pardons could serve as a model for governors in conservative as well as a few liberal states who oppose decriminalizing pot but agree that users should not go to prison.

Marijuana is now fully legal in 19 U.S. states and allowed for medical use in 37. Most states that have legalized marijuana have also moved to expunge the records of nonviolent offenders or issue pardons.

But thousands of people continue to be arrested for marijuana offenses annually. Data is hard to come by, but NORML estimates that about 350,000 people were arrested for marijuana-related offenses in 2020, of which roughly 91% were for possession offenses only. According to the ACLU, of the 8.2 million marijuana arrests in the U.S. between 2001 and 2010, 88% were for just possessing marijuana.

Lesotho's new party set for election win, early results show

By Marafaele Mohloboli

REUTERS/Siphiwe SibekoRead

MASERU, Oct 9 (Reuters) - A recently founded party led by a millionaire diamond magnate looked set on Sunday to win Lesotho's parliamentary election, having secured enough for a simple majority, according to preliminary results from the election commission.

By Sunday afternoon, results from the Oct. 7 vote were in for 49 out of a total of 80 constituencies. The Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) party, formed by Sam Matekane in March, had secured 41 seats, the minimum required to reach a simple majority.

The current ruling party All Basotho Convention (ABC), which has run the country of 2.14 million people since 2017, was faring badly with no seats won so far, the tally showed.

The Democratic Congress (DC), the main opposition party and member of the coalition government, is running a distant second to the RFP in the race, having secured at least six seats.

A victory for the RFP paves the way for a change in government in a southern African country marred by political upheaval, stalled reforms under the ABC and widespread exasperation of people over political wrangling, corruption and policy paralysis.

RFP has promised to usher in a new era of governance and prosperity in the country by exploiting its natural resources and its commercial competitiveness, drawing from its founder's experience in running businesses.

The party has also promised to strengthen the state institutions.

Lesotho is a small land-locked mountain kingdom that is ringfenced by South African Drakensberg range on all sides. It has close ties with its neighbour commercially and has often relied for its military support to quell coups and political unrest.

Lesotho's national assembly comprises a total of 120 seats, of which 80 are subject to 'first-past-the-post' voting, meaning whoever gets the maximum number of seats wins the election.

The remaining 40 seats are allocated using the proportional representative system, under which voters cast vote for a party instead of a candidate and the party is assigned seats in the parliament in proportion to the votes won.

Reporting by Marafaele Mohloboli and Promit Mukherjee Writing by Promit Mukherjee Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky

Japan Kishida's support hits low on his party's ties to controversial church

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to the media after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan, at his official residence in Tokyo, Japan October 4, 2022, in this photo taken by Kyodo. Mandatory 


TOKYO, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Support for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government slid to the lowest of his one-year tenure on doubts about his party's disclosure of ties to the controversial Unification Church, an opinion poll showed on Sunday.

Kishida has struggled to overcome revelations of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) deep and longstanding ties to the church in the wake of the July assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The suspected killer has said his mother was bankrupted by the church, which critics call a cult, and has blamed Abe for promoting it.

Support for Kishida's cabinet slumped to 35% from about 40% a month ago in a weekend poll by Kyodo news, the lowest in the agency's surveys since he took office in October 2021. About 48% of respondents said they did not support his cabinet.

Some 83% said the LDP had not done enough to disclose ties between the party's lawmakers and the Unification Church, far eclipsing the 13% who said it had.

The LDP has acknowledged many individual lawmakers have ties to the church but said there was no organisational link to the party. The staunchly anti-communist church says its political arm has courted lawmakers, mostly from the LDP because of their ideological proximity, although it has no direct affiliation to the party.

On rising prices of food, utilities and other necessities, about 79% in the Kyodo survey said they had been hit, compared with about 21% who had not felt any impact.
Japan's inflation accelerated to a nearly eight-year high 2.8% in August, the most recent data available, exceeding the central bank's 2% target for a fifth straight month as price pressure from raw materials and yen weakness broadened.

NUKES & A BRIDGE TOO FAR

Zaporizhzhia plant down to diesel generators as shelling cuts power essential for cooling

Sat, October 8, 2022 

Nuclear plant needs power supply to avoid meltdown

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Overnight shelling brought down the main power line

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Relying on emergency diesel generators for time being

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IAEA says protection zone is an 'urgent imperative'

KYIV/VIENNA, Oct 8 (Reuters) -

Overnight shelling cut power to Ukraine's Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which needs cooling to avoid a meltdown, forcing it to switch to emergency generators, Ukraine's state nuclear company and the U.N. atomic watchdog said on Saturday.

Even though the six reactors are shut down, they still need a constant supply of electricity to keep the nuclear fuel inside cool and prevent disaster.

Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for shelling at the site of Europe's biggest nuclear plant that has damaged buildings and threatened a catastrophic nuclear accident. The International Atomic Energy Agency is pushing for a protection zone to be set up to prevent further shelling.

Speaking on BBC World News on Saturday, Petro Kotin, the head of Ukraine's state nuclear company Energoatom, warned the diesel generators only had a limited supply of fuel at present.

“Right now we are working on logistics to supply more fuel for these generators,” he said.

Energoatom did not immediately respond to a query on the status of negotiations with Russian authorities regarding fuel supply to the plant.

“If (the generators) run out of fuel, after that they will stop, and after that there will be a disaster...there will be a melting of the active core and a release of radioactivity from there,” Kotin said.

The nuclear plant is in a part of Zaporizhzhia region recently annexed by Russia, a move dismissed by Ukraine and its allies as an imperial landgrab.

In a decree published on Saturday, the Russian government set up a firm to take control of the plant, as ordered by President Vladimir Putin on Oct. 5.

The IAEA, which has two observers present at the plant, confirmed Energoatom's statement that the plant had switched to its diesel generators after shelling at around 1 a.m. cut the main 750 kilovolt line supplying external power to the plant.

"The resumption of shelling, hitting the plant's sole source of external power, is tremendously irresponsible. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant must be protected," the IAEA quoted its chief Rafael Grossi as saying in a statement.

"All the plant's safety systems continue to receive power and are operating normally, the IAEA experts (stationed at Zaporizhzhia) were informed by senior Ukrainian operating staff," the IAEA said.

Grossi has been in talks with Russia and Ukraine on setting up a protection zone around the plant, though he has declined to say what that would involve exactly or how it would be enforced or monitored. He was in Kyiv on Thursday and is due to go to Russia early next week.

"I will soon travel to the Russian Federation, and then return to Ukraine, to agree on a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the plant. This is an absolute and urgent imperative," the IAEA quoted Grossi as saying. 

(Reporting by Max Hunder and Francois Murphy; Editing by Catherine Evans, Ros Russell and Nick Macfie)

EU Condemns Russia’s Takeover of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant

October 08, 2022 
VOA News

FILE: A security person stands in front of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, amid the ongoing Russian military action in Ukraine, Sept. 11, 2022.
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The European Union’s top diplomat Saturday condemned “in the strongest possible terms” Russia’s attempt to annex the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and said Russia’s forces must fully withdraw from the plant and return control of it to Ukraine.

High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell called the seizure of the nuclear power plant “illegal, and legally null and void,” and said a reinforced International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “presence at the site and its unhindered access to the plant are urgently needed in the interest of the security of Europe as a whole.”

Earlier in the day, the IAEA reported that the Zaporizhzhia plant, the biggest in Europe, had lost its only external power source as a result of renewed Russian shelling and was forced to rely on emergency diesel generators.

All six reactors at the plant are shut down, but they still require electricity for cooling and other safety functions. The IAEA said plant engineers have begun work to repair the damaged power line.

 International Atomic Energy Agency Director General 

Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks at a news conference at

 Vienna Airport after his return from his mission at the 

nuclear power plant of Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine, Sept. 2, 2022.

The nuclear watchdog agency said the plant’s link to a 750-kilovolt line was cut about 1 a.m. Saturday local time. It cited official information from Ukraine, as well as reports from IAEA experts at the site, which is held by Russian forces.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi is traveling to Moscow to hold talks in the coming days about establishing a protection zone around the nuclear plant. He was in Ukraine Friday and met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy regarding the situation. Transferring the plant to Russian ownership, Grossi said, is a violation of international law.

Russian shake-up?

Colonel General Sergei Surovikin. Russia's Defense Ministry 

announced Oct. 8, 2022, that Surovikin would be the commander 

of all Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.

Russia's Defense Ministry named General Sergei Surovikin on Saturday as the new overall commander of Kremlin forces engaged in Ukraine. It was the first official announcement of a single overall commander for all Russian forces fighting in Ukraine since its February 24 invasion began.

"By the decision of the defense minister of the Russian Federation, General of the Army Sergei Surovikin has been appointed commander of the joint group of troops in the area of the special military operation," the statement said, using the Kremlin's term for the invasion of Ukraine.

Surovikin had since 2017 led Russia's Aerospace Forces. In June, he was placed in charge of Russian forces in southern Ukraine.

Workers repair the railway part of the Crimean bridge connecting 

Russian mainland and Crimean Peninsula over the Kerch Strait, Oct. 8, 2022.

Bridge partly opens

Saturday dawned with an explosion that partially collapsed a bridge over the Kerch Strait, an important road and rail link between Russia and Crimea and a vital supply line for Russia’s war effort against Ukraine.

No one has claimed responsibility for the blast that killed three people and shut down the bridge. Russian transportation authorities said limited road and rail traffic had resumed about 10 hours after the attack.

Zelenskyy, in a video address, indirectly acknowledged the bridge attack but not its cause.

“Today was not a bad day and mostly sunny on our state's territory,” he said. “Unfortunately, it was cloudy in Crimea. Although it was also warm.”

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly threatened to strike the bridge.

Flame and smoke rise from Crimean Bridge connecting Russian 

mainland and Crimean Peninsula over the Kerch Strait, Oct. 8, 2022.

Moscow stopped short of assigning blame, but the speaker of Crimea’s Kremlin-backed regional parliament accused Ukraine, while downplaying the severity of the damage.

“Now they have something to be proud of: over 23 years of their management, they didn’t manage to build anything worthy of attention in Crimea, but they’ve managed to damage the surface of the Russian bridge,” Vladimir Konstantinov, chairperson of the State Council of the Republic, wrote on Telegram.

The official Twitter account of the Ukraine government tweeted, “Sick burn.”


Mykhailo Podolyak, a Zelenskyy adviser, lauded the attack, tweeting, "Crimea, the bridge, the beginning. Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled."





Russian Foreign Ministry representative Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram, “The Kiev regime’s reaction to the destruction of civilian infrastructure highlights its terrorist nature.”

The Ukrainian postal service announced it would issue stamps commemorating the blast, saying in a statement that the images would draw on classic film posters to highlight the bridge's “sacred significance” to Moscow. The postal service previously released a set of stamps commemorating the sinking of the Moskva, a Russian flagship cruiser, by a Ukrainian strike in late May.

Investigation ongoing

The blast, reportedly a truck bomb, occurred even though all vehicles driving across it undergo automatic checks for explosives by state-of-the-art control systems. That has drawn a stream of critical comments from Russian war bloggers.

The truck was owned by a resident of the Krasnodar region in southern Russia, Russia’s Investigative Committee said. It noted that investigators arrived at his home as part of the inquiry and are looking at the truck’s route and other details.

The 19-kilometer bridge across the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov opened in 2018 and is the longest in Europe. The $3.6 billion project is a tangible symbol of Moscow’s claims on Crimea, and it has provided an essential link to the peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

While Russia seized areas north of Crimea early on during the invasion and built a land corridor to it along the Sea of Azov, Ukraine is pressing a counteroffensive to reclaim them.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press and Reuters.

Factbox-The bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula

Yesterday 

LONDON (Reuters) - The road-and-rail bridge linking Russia and the Crimean peninsula was damaged in a powerful blast on Saturday, hitting a crucial supply route for Russian forces in Ukraine. Following are key facts about the bridge.


A helicopter drops water to extinguish fuel tanks ablaze on the Kerch bridge 

in the Kerch Strait, Crimea

© Reuters/STRINGER

CRIMEA AND RUSSIA LINK

The 19-km (12-mile) Crimea Bridge over the Kerch Strait is the only direct link between the transport network of Russia and the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

The bridge was a flagship project for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who opened it himself for road traffic with great fanfare by driving a truck across in 2018.

It consists of a separate roadway and railway, both supported by concrete stilts, which give way to a wider span held by steel arches at the point where ships pass between the Black Sea and the smaller Azov Sea.

The structure was built, at a reported cost of $3.6 billion, by a firm belonging to Arkady Rotenberg, a close ally and former judo partner of Putin.

Related video: Why is the Crimean Bridge attack significant?

Duration 1:27   View on Watch

WHY IT MATTERS

The bridge is crucial for the supply of fuel, food and other products to Crimea, where the port of Sevastopol is the historic home base of Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

It also became a major supply route for Russian forces after Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, sending forces from Crimea to seize most of southern Ukraine's Kherson region and some of the adjoining Zaporizhzhia province.

Russia's Defence Ministry said on Saturday that those troops could be fully supplied by existing land and sea routes.

WHAT HAS BEEN DESTROYED

The blast on Saturday brought down sections of road taking traffic in one direction.

Traffic was initially suspended after the incident but by Saturday evening cars and buses were allowed to start crossing the bridge in alternating directions on the remaining intact lanes, while heavy goods vehicles waited to cross by ferry.

Russian officials said railway traffic would resume on Saturday evening.

The span through which ships pass the strait was not damaged.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Frances Kerry)