'Very nice!' Trump declares victory over Harris as he vows to usher in a new 'golden age'

Daniel Hampton
November 6, 2024

Former President Donald Trump declared victory early Wednesday over Vice President Kamala Harris and told a raucous crowd of MAGA supporters to brace for a new "golden age."

As chants of "U-S-A" broke out at his campaign HQ in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump called MAGA a "movement like no one has seen before." He vowed to help the "country heal."

"It's a political victory our country has never seen before," Trump said.

He thanked voters for making him the 47th and 45th president, and pledged to deliver a "strong, safe and prosperous America."

"This will truly be the golden age of America," said Trump.


He said his campaign estimates the former president will carry at least 315 electoral votes ‚ and thanked supporters for helping him win the popular vote.

"Very nice!" he exclaimed.

Trump took a jab at "certain networks," naming CNN and MSNBC, repeating his campaign rhetoric of calling them the "enemy camp."


He also praised his running mate, J.D. Vance.

"He turned out to be a good choice," said Trump. "I took a little heat at the beginning. I knew the brain was a good one. About as good as it gets."

Watch Trump's speech below or at this link.

TRUMP WINS 

FASCISM COMES TO AMERIKA

Four states vote to protect abortion access, while effort fails in Florida

By UPI Staff

Florida residents are seen filling in their ballots on election day for Democrat and Republican Presidential candidates along with down ballot candidates in Miami on Tuesday. Florida is among nine states with measures related to abortion rights on the ballot. Photo by Gary I Rothstein/UPI | License Photo


Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Florida's attempt to protect access to abortion rights narrowly failed Tuesday, while similar efforts in Arizona, Colorado, New York and Maryland succeeded.

The controversial medical practice is on the ballot in 10 states, as voters continue to contend with the fallout of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
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Results in Missouri, Montana, Nebraska and South Dakota were still pending as of early Wednesday. Nevada voted to pass the measure, but it needs to pass in consecutive elections before taking effect.

Voters are being asked to alter or amend their constitutions to protect abortion rights in the absence of the federal protections previously provided by the landmark Supreme Court case.


Arizona

Arizona voters passed Proposition 139 to create a "fundamental right to abortion" under the state's constitution.

According to unofficial state results, nearly 63% voted "Yes" to the proposition, compared to 37.1% who voted "No." It needed a 50% "Yes" vote to pass.
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The vote will alter the state's constitution to declare that Arizona will not be able to interfere with the fundamental right of abortion before fetal viability "unless it has a compelling reason and does so in the least restrictive way possible."

The measure describes "fetal viability" as "the point in the pregnancy when, in the good-faith judgement of a treating health care professional, the fetus has a significant likelihood of survival outside of the uterus."

The measure will prevent the state from interfering with "the good faith judgment" of a doctor that an abortion is necessary to protect the life or health of a pregnant person for the length of the pregnancy, both before and after fetal viability.

It will also protect against state penalties for aiding or assisting a pregnant person in receiving an abortion.

Colorado

Colorado's Amendment 79 to add a section to Article II of the state's constitution recognizing abortion rights passed with a "Yes" vote of 61.44%, according to unofficial state results, passing the 55% threshold needed.

Nearly 39% of voters ticked "No" on the ballot.

The measure will add "Section 32. Abortion" to the article, which states:

"The right to abortion is hereby recognized. Government shall not deny, impede, or discriminate against the exercise of that right, including prohibiting health insurance coverage for abortion."

Florida

In Florida, Amendment Four sought to "limit government interference with abortion" in wake of the state imposing a law that bans abortion after the gestational age of a fetus is determined to be more than six weeks.

The measure received a 57.02% approval, falling just shy of the required 60% to pass. It would have amended the state's constitution to say that "no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient's health as determined by the patient's healthcare provider."

The amendment would not have altered the legislature's authority under the constitution to require that a parent or guardian be notified before a minor has an abortion.

Maryland

Question 1 in Maryland asked voters whether the state should amend the state's constitution to introduce a new section that guarantees a right to reproductive freedom, and voters overwhelming said "Yes."

According to unofficials state results, 73.9% approved the measure, well surpassing the 50% needed for the measures to pass.

The proposal states states that "reproductive freedom" includes but is not limited to "the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end the individual's pregnancy, and provides the state may not, directly or indirectly, deny, burden, or abridge the right unless justified by a compelling state interest achieved by the least restrictive means."

Missouri

Missouri's Amendment Three would alter the state's constitution to enshrine reproductive freedom in the state.

The language of the bill says the constitution would be amended to include a clause that would bar the state government from infringing on a person's right to "make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions."

It would, however, allow the state to restrict abortion access after fetal viability and in instances where "such action is justified by a compelling governmental interest achieved by the least restrictive means."

The measure must receive a simple majority to pass.

Montana

Montana's Ballot Issue 14 would amend the state's constitution to guarantee the right to an abortion up until fetal viability or to protect the life of the patient.

The amendment states that the government would be prohibited from penalizing patients, healthcare providers or anyone who assists someone seeking or carrying out an abortion. Abortion is currently banned in Missouri except when to protect the life of the mother or to preserve a pregnant person's health.

Providing an abortion in violation of the state's law is a class B felony.

Ballot measures require a simple majority to pass.

Nebraska

Nebraska has two initiatives on the ballot related to abortion access.

Initiative 434 would amend the state constitution to ban abortions in the second and third trimesters unless the pregnancy is the result of sexual assault or incest.

Initiative 435 would amend the state constitution to enshrine the right to an abortion until fetal viability or when needed to protect the life of the mother.

Abortion is currently banned after 12 weeks of pregnancy in Nebraska, with exceptions for rape, incest and when there is a threat to the patient's life.

Ballot initiatives need a simple majority to pass in Nebraska and at least 35% of votes cast must affirm the initiative.

Nevada

Voters in Nevada passed Question Six to amend the state's Constitution to create an individual's fundamental right to abortion.

Unofficial state results show nearly 63% voted "Yes" to the amendment, while 37% voted "No."

The ballot measure required a simple majority to pass, but it must pass in consecutive elections before becoming law. It will need to pass again in 2026 to take effect.

According to the amendment, a fundamental right to abortion prevents interference from state and local governments when the procedure is performed by a medical professional before "fetal viability or when necessary to protect the health or life of the pregnant individual."

The measure will also direct the state to prohibit from penalizing or prosecuting any individual based on the outcome of their pregnancy.

New York

New Yorkers passed Proposal Number One, also known as the Equal Rights Amendment, to codify abortion rights into the state's Constitution through an amendment to protect pregnant people from discrimination.

The proposal passed by 61.27%, surpassing the 50% threshold needed, according to unofficials election night results from the state.

With the measure passing, the Constitution will be amended to ensure no person will be denied equal protection of the laws of the state because of "pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes and reproductive healthcare and autonomy."

South Dakota

South Dakota's Amendment G is a measure to establish the right to an abortion in the state constitution and create a legal framework for regulating abortion.

If passed, the state would be able to regulate abortion access only after the first trimester. Proponents of the measure say it effectively restores the rights once protected by the Roe vs. Wade decision.

The state enacted a near-total ban on abortion in 2022, making it a felony to perform an abortion with an exception for saving the life of the mother.

Florida's adult-use marijuana initiative fails as Nebraska voters approve medical cannabis

By Joe Fisher

Florida residents wait in line to cast their ballot on Election Day in Delray Beach, Fla., on Tuesday. Photo by Gary I Rothstein/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Florida's effort to legalize adult-use marijuana failed to pass with a 60% super majority of votes needed. Meanwhile, Nebraska voters approved the state's plan for medical cannabis.

Voters in two other states will weigh in on the legalization of marijuana on Tuesday, as well.

Cannabis advocates had been hopeful that ballot measures in Florida, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota could open the states up to manufacture and sell medical or recreational marijuana. Each ballot measure is the result of citizen-led petition drives.

Marijuana is legal to some degree in 38 states. Twenty-four states have legalized recreational marijuana.

On May 21, the Department of Justice changed its classification from a schedule I controlled substance to schedule III. Schedule III drugs are considered to be at a lesser risk of abuse than schedule I and II, and they can be prescribed over the phone.
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More than 80% of adults believe marijuana should be legal in at least some cases, with 57% responding that it should be legal for medical and recreational use, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center.

Florida Amendment Three fails

Florida's Amendment Three would have allowed adults 21 years old and older to purchase, possess and use marijuana products recreationally. The measure was praised by presidential candidate Donald Trump, but it was fought against relentlessly by the state's governor, Ron DeSantis, who used state money to finance a robust campaign of TV ads decrying the measure.

With more than 95% of the state's voting recorded, the measure attracted a strong yet futile 57.2% of the vote to 42.8 opposed, according to reporting by Marijuana Moment, Axios and WFTS TV in Tampa.

It is already legal to purchase, possess and use marijuana for medical purposes.

The amendment would have allowed Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers and other vendors that have a license from the state to grow, acquire, manufacture and sell cannabis products and accessories related to the use of cannabis. An individual could possess up to 3 ounces or about 8.5 grams.

Constitutional amendments require a 60% majority to pass.

Nebraska medical program succeeds

Nebraska voters approved that state's two measures on the ballot related to the legalization of medical marijuana.

Both Initiative 437 and 438 were approved by voters, according to the New York Times, KCAU-TV and Marijuana Moment.

Initiative 437 will eliminate the penalties for possessing up to 5 ounces of cannabis for medical purposes. Initiative 438 will legalize possessing, manufacturing, distributing, delivering and dispensing cannabis for medical use. The measure passed 74% to 26%, according to news sources.

Initiative 438 also establishes a Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission that will be responsible for regulating the medical marijuana industry in the state. That measure was approved by state voters by 70%, with 30% voting against.

Ballot measures require a simple majority to pass in Nebraska. At least 35% of voters who cast ballots must vote to approve the ballot measure, as well.

North Dakota Initiated Measure 5

A ballot measure attempting to legalize marijuana for recreational use is on the ballot in North Dakota for the third time in six years. Similar measures were voted down in 2018 and 2022.

Initiated Measure 5 will legalize the production, possession and use of recreational marijuana for adults 21 years old and older. A state entity will regulate recreational marijuana and the registration of adults, businesses and dispensaries.
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State lawmakers will have until Oct. 1, 2025 to establish regulations.

An individual will be allowed to possess an ounce of cannabis, four grams of concentrate and 1,500 milligrams of edibles.

Ballot initiatives require a simple majority to pass in North Dakota.

South Dakota Initiated Measure 29

Initiated Measure 29 in South Dakota seeks to legalize the possession, growing, use and distribution of marijuana recreationally for adults 21 years old and older.

Voters passed an amendment to the state constitution in 2020 that would have legalized recreational marijuana. Gov. Kristi Noem, a vocal opponent of legalization, challenged the measure in court after the fact and the state supreme court ruled in her favor. The court ruled that the ballot measure did not adhere to the state's single-subject requirement.

Medical marijuana is already legal in South Dakota, despite the efforts of Noem, who has sought to block medical protections.

Ballot measures require a simple majority of votes cast to pass in South Dakota.

Police fire tear gas at protest over deadly canopy collapse in Serbia


Protesters broke windows and sprayed red paint on the City Hall building in the Serbian city of Novi Sad on Tuesday in rage over last week’s collapse of a concrete canopy at the railway station that killed 14 people

A protester attempts to throw a flare into the City Hall building during a protest in rage over last week’s collapse of a concrete canopy at the railway station that killed 14 people, in Novi Sad, Serbia, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

A flare burns in front of the City Hall building during a protest in rage over last week’s collapse of a concrete canopy at the railway station that killed 14 people, in Novi Sad, Serbia, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)


A protester paints grafitti on the City Hall building during a protest in rage over last week’s collapse of a concrete canopy at the railway station that killed 14 people, in Novi Sad, Serbia, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

 November 5, 2024S


NOVI SAD, Serbia (AP) — Protesters on Tuesday threw flares and red paint on the City Hall building in the Serbian city of Novi Sad in rage over last week’s collapse of a concrete canopy at the railway station that killed 14 people. Police responded by firing tear gas canisters.

The protesters surrounded the building in the city center, broke windows and threw stones and other objects despite calls by organizers to remain calm. Special police troops were deployed inside the building.

Serbia’s autocratic President Aleksandar Vucic said police were “showing restraint,” while warning that “horrific, violent protests are underway.”

“People of Serbia, please do not think violence is allowed,” he said on X. “All those taking part in the incidents will be punished.”

Miran Pogacar, an opposition activist, said “one glass window can be mended but we cannot bring back 14 lives. People are angry. Serbia won’t stand for this.”
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Protest organizers said they wanted to enter the City Hall building and submit their demands, including that those responsible for the canopy collapse face justice.

Some of the protesters trying to get inside the building wore masks and were believed to be soccer hooligans who are close to the populist government.


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Bojan Pajtic, an opposition politician, said he believed violence was being stoked by provocateurs, a tactic used before in Serbia to derail peaceful anti-government protests and paint the opposition protesters as enemies of the nation.

Earlier, thousands of demonstrators had marched through the city streets demanding that top officials step down because of the fatal outer roof collapse last Friday, including President Vucic and Prime Minister Milos Vucevic.

The protesters first gathered outside the railway station where they held a moment of silence for the victims as organizers read their names. The crowd responded by chanting: “arrest the gang” and “thieves.”

The protest started peacefully but some demonstrators later hurled plastic bottles and bricks at the headquarters of Vucic’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party and smeared red paint on posters of the Serbian president and the prime minister — a message that they have blood on their hands.

The protesters removed most of the Serbian national red, blue and white national flags that were apparently hung on the headquarters to prevent it from an attack. That triggered an angry reaction from the president.

“Our Serbian tri-color has been destroyed, hidden and removed by all those who do not love Serbia,” Vucic wrote on X. “Tonight, in Novi Sad, this is being done by those who tell us that they love Serbia more than us, the decent citizens of this country.”

As protests wound down later in the evening, Vucic made a surprise trip to Novi Sad and made a brief appearance before his several hundred supporters gathered outside the party headquarters.

Critics of Serbia’s populist government have attributed the disaster to rampant corruption in the Balkan country, a lack of transparency and sloppy work during renovation work on the station building which was part of a wider railway deal with Chinese state companies.

The accident happened without warning. Surveillance camera footage showed the massive canopy on the outer wall of the station building crashing down on the people sitting below on benches or going in and out.

Officials have promised full accountability and, faced with pressure, Serbia’s construction minister submitted his resignation on Tuesday.

Prosecutors have said that more than 40 people already have been questioned as part of a probe into what happened. Many in Serbia, however, doubt that justice will be served with the populists in firm control of the judicial system and the police.

Opposition parties behind Tuesday’s protest said they are also demanding the resignation of Vucevic and that documentation be made public listing all the companies and individuals involved.

The victims included a 6-year-old girl. Those injured in the roof collapse remained inserious condition on Tuesday.

The train station has been renovated twice in recent years. Officials have insisted that the canopy had not been part of the renovation work, suggesting this was the reason why it collapsed but giving no explanation for why it was not included.

The Novi Sad railway station was originally built in 1964, while the renovated station was inaugurated by Vucic and his populist ally, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, over two years ago as a major stopover for a planned fast train line between Belgrade and Budapest.

Thousands protest in Serbian city over fatal roof collapse

a train station roof collapsed last week killing 14 people 

By AFP
November 5, 2024


Protesters lift up red painted hands to symbolise what they say is government neglect and mismanagement 

- Copyright AFP I-Hwa CHENG

Ognjen ZORIC

Thousands of protesters, red paint and smashed windows at the city hall: The Serbian city where a train station roof collapsed last week killing 14 people was at boiling point Tuesday evening.

The deadly accident in Novi Sad struck just months after the station completed a years-long renovation.

It sparked outrage in Serbia where people have taken to the streets and social media users are demanding the resignation of government officials for what they allege is weak oversight on construction and development projects.

“I’m here because one six-year-old girl will never blow out seven candles on her birthday cake,” protester Maja Gledic told AFP.

“This little girl had a nine-year-old sister who won’t be blowing (her) ten (birthday) candles either,” the 50-year-old saleswoman said, referring to two little sisters who were among the victims.

“How many (dead) children we still have to count for this to be over?”, Gledic said barely holding back tears.

Three people, aged between 18 and 24, were seriously injured in the accident, and they were still in critical condition on Tuesday.

So far 48 people have been questioned in an investigation into the accident, according to the authorities.

Construction Minister Goran Vesic resigned earlier Tuesday, saying he made the move “as a responsible man who wants to show by personal example that in today’s Serbia there is moral responsibility due to the terrible tragedy”.

The minister said on X he was quitting with a “clear conscience”.

But, for the protesters in Novi Sad, who first gathered in font of the train station and observed a minute of silence for the victims, it was not enough.

“You are guilty!” one of the organisers told the authorities, speaking from an improvised stage.

Many held banners that read: “Crime”, with their hands painted red.

The protesters chanted: “Prison, prison!” and “Arrest the criminals”.



– ‘Victims of regime’ –



“These fourteen dead and three wounded are, above all, victims of this regime and of everything that is happening in Serbia over the last twelve years”, protester Vladimir Gvozdenovic, a 60-year-old economist, told AFP.

“This accident did not come by itself. It is the product of arrogance, impudence and thievery of this country and these authorities. Eventually, their criminal manner of running the country results in the death of people.”

For Gvozdenovic and fellow protesters, the ruling nationalist SNS party is guilty of negligence in overseeing public infrastructure construction projects that are proliferating across the country.

From the train station the protesters marched to the city hall where dozens of them threw red paint, stones, bottles and flares at the building, smashing its windows.

Police inside the building responded with pepper spray, while other protesters tried to intervene, shouting “don’t destroy our city,” in a very tense atmosphere, according to an AFP reporter.

Meanwhile, President Aleksandar Vucic pledged to punish those responsible for the violence.

“My message to them (protesters) is that the police are very restrained tonight, not only because of them, but also because of the reverence we show for the victims of the terrible tragedy,” he said in a video posted on Instagram.

Vucic pledged that “everyone who participated in this will be punished”.

The central railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second-largest city, underwent three years of renovation that was completed in July, though Serbia Railways said the collapsed outdoor roof had not been part of the renovations.

Serbia train station tragedy: How Serbians are demanding accountability | DW News

Serbian protesters demand arrests after railway station canopy collapse killed 14

‘Black day’: French workers protest Michelin plans to close two plants

ByAFP
November 5, 2024

Tyres were set on fire as workers rallied outside the Michelin plant in Cholet 

- Copyright AFP Philip FONG

Laetitia DREVET with Celine CASTELLA in Clermont-Ferrand and Taimaz SZIRNIKS in Paris

Michelin factory workers burnt tyres in western France on Tuesday and vowed to stage a strike after the tyre company said it would close two plants by early 2026 over collapsing sales.

Michelin said the decision to close down the plants in Cholet and Vannes in western France, which together employ more than 1,250 people, had been made “as a last resort.”

In another sign of struggles in the European auto industry, German parts maker Schaeffler announced that it would cut 4,700 jobs in Europe.

European car sales have fallen at home and in key market China as demand for electric vehicles has fallen and competition from Chinese manufacturers has grown.

Michelin, which employs almost 19,000 people in France, said the plant closure had become “unavoidable” due to competition from Asian tyre makers as well as the “worsening competitiveness of Europe”, notably due to inflation and rising energy prices.



– ‘All over’ –



Employees at the Cholet plant voted in favour of staging a strike, unions said.

Thick black smoke rose into the air as workers at the Cholet production site, which employs 955 people, set tyres on fire during a protest in front of the plant. Around 200 workers blocked traffic at a crossroads leading to the site.

“They put the 900 employees in a room like cows in a slaughterhouse and announced that it was all over,” Morgane Royer, an employee and SUD union delegate, told AFP.

“Either they keep our jobs, or they pay us until we retire,” CGT secretary David Goubault shouted. “They’ve exploited us for years.”

Michelin had earlier said it planned to halt production at the two sites until November 13 “to give management and the unions time to propose collective and individual discussions with employees.”

The right-wing mayor of Cholet, Gilles Bourdouleix, denounced “the rogue version of capitalism”.

“For us, it’s heartbreaking,” Bourdouleix said, calling the announcement “brutal” as Michelin has been in Cholet for five decades.

Employees also burnt tyres and pallets in front of the Vannes plant, which was built in the early 1960s and employs around 300 people.

Eric Boisgard, who has worked there since 2004, said the workers greeted the announcement with silence.

“Everyone was devastated,” he said.



– ‘Earthquake’ –



The right-wing mayor of Vannes, David Robo, said: “It’s a black day for Vannes and an earthquake for the region.”

Michelin vowed to support the two regions by creating “as many jobs as those eliminated”.

The company said it would support its employees, including with job offers in other companies or within the group, or early retirement.

“It is the collapse in business that has led to this situation, and I want to say to all these employees that we will not leave anyone by the wayside,” Michelin CEO Florent Menegaux told AFP in an interview.

The Cholet plant mainly manufactures light truck tyres — a segment that “has seen a significant decline” in Europe in recent years, with no prospect of recovery, said Michelin.

The Vannes site mainly produces metal reinforcements such as cables, which are then used to manufacture car tyres in countries including Spain and Italy.

In recent years production volumes have been declining at the plant due to changing demand from truck tyre plants in Europe, said Michelin.

The group is going through a difficult year with a slowdown in the new vehicle market.

Michelin had already closed its La-Roche-sur-Yon site in western France in 2020, and is preparing to close two plants in Germany by 2025.

The company said that in La Roche-sur-Yon more than 635 jobs had been created, compared with 613 jobs eliminated.

Schaeffler said its cuts were in response to “the challenging market environment, the increasing intensity of global competition, and ongoing transformation processes affecting the automotive supply industry”.

Schaeffler, which specialises in making bearings for the automotive industry, currently has about 120,000 employees in 55 countries.

Takeaways from AP’s report on three hospitals in northern Gaza raided by Israeli troops


A woman sits on a bed in a room of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Aug. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)

BY ISABEL DEBRE, JULIA FRANKEL AND LEE KEATH
November 3, 2024

JERUSALEM (AP) — One of the most startling aspects of Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza has been the destruction wreaked on the territory’s health sector. Over the past 13 months, the Israeli military has besieged and raided at least 10 hospitals, saying the attacks are a military necessity because Hamas uses the facilities as command and control bases.

The Associated Press examined the raids late last year on three hospitals in northern Gaza — al-Awda, Indonesian and Kamal Adwan hospitals — interviewing more than three dozen patients, witnesses and medical and humanitarian workers as well as Israeli officials.

Israel has presented little or even no evidence of a significant Hamas presence at the three. The AP presented a dossier listing the incidents reported by those it interviewed to the Israeli military spokesman’s office. The office said it could not comment on specific events. All three hospitals have come under fire or been raided again in recent weeks.

Today there are no fully functional hospitals in all of Gaza – just 16 out of 39 hospitals are partly operational, according to the World Health Organization, most offering little more than first aid. Israeli attacks in and around medical sites have killed 765 Palestinians and wounded 990 others, WHO says. That number doesn’t include patients who doctors say died for lack of treatment or oxygen during Israeli sieges, whose number is not known.

Here is some of what the AP found:

AL-AWDA HOSPITAL:

—The Israeli military has never made any claims of a Hamas presence at al-Awda Hospital. When asked what intelligence led troops to besiege and raid the hospital last year, the military spokesman’s office did not reply.

—As fighting raged around the hospital, a shell blasted its operating room on Nov. 21, killing three doctors and a relative of a patient, according to international charity Doctors Without Borders.

—After troops surrounded the facility, staff said approaching the hospital could be deadly because of Israeli sniper fire. Three hospital administrators said two pregnant women walking to the facility to give birth were shot on Dec. 12 and bled to death in the street. Medics told of recovering their bodies later.

—Mohammed Salha, an administrator at the time who is now the hospital’s acting director, said that the next day he watched gunfire kill his cousin and her 6-year-old son as she brought the boy for treatment of wounds. Another pregnant woman, Shaza al-Shuraim, described walking to the hospital while in labor, accompanied by her mother-in-law and brother-in-law. Even as they waved white flags, a burst of gunfire killed her mother-in-law.

—The hospital’s director, Ahmed Muhanna, was seized by Israeli troops after they stormed the facility. His whereabouts remain unknown. One of Gaza’s leading doctors, orthopedist Adnan al-Bursh, was also detained during the raid and died in Israeli custody in May.

INDONESIAN HOSPITAL:

—The Indonesian Hospital is the largest hospital north of Gaza City. Before raiding the site, Israel claimed an underground Hamas command-and-control center lay underneath it. It released blurry satellite images of what it said was a tunnel entrance in the yard and a rocket launchpad nearby, outside the hospital compound.

—After its raid late last year, the military did not mention or show any evidence of an underground facility or tunnels. Asked if any tunnels were found, the military spokesman’s office did not reply.

—The military released images of two vehicles found in the compound — a pickup truck with military vests and a bloodstained car belonging to an abducted Israeli, suggesting he had been brought to the hospital on Oct. 7. Hamas has said it brought wounded hostages to hospitals for treatment.

—Despite continued Israeli suggestions that hospitals are linked to Hamas tunnel networks, the military has shown only a single tunnel from all hospitals it raided — one accessing Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

—The Israeli assault in November and December left Indonesian’s top floors charred, its walls pockmarked by shrapnel, its gates strewn with piled-up rubble.

—As Israeli troops surrounded the hospital, shelling hit its second floor on Nov. 20, killing 12 people and wounding dozens, according to staff. Israel said troops responded to “enemy fire” from the hospital but denied using shells.

—During the siege, doctors and medics estimated a fifth of incoming patients died. At least 60 corpses lay in the courtyard. With few supplies, doctors said they performed dozens of amputations on infected limbs that could not be treated.


KAMAL ADWAN HOSPITAL:

—While Israeli troops surrounded Kamal Adwan in November, at least 10 patients died for lack of water, oxygen and medicine, according to Hossam Abu Safiya, a pediatrician who after the siege became the hospital’s director.

—As they stormed the hospital on Dec 12, troops allowed police dogs to attack staff, patients and others, multiple witnesses said. Ahmed Atbail, a 36-year-old sheltering at the hospital, said he saw a dog bite off one man’s finger. The Israeli military said it was unaware of the incident.

—Witnesses said the troops ordered boys and men from their mid-teens to 60 to line up outside crouched in the cold, blindfolded and nearly naked for hours of interrogation. After releasing some, it opened fire on them as they walked back into the hospital, wounding five, three witnesses said.

—Three witnesses said an Israeli military bulldozer plowed into buildings in the hospital compound and crushed tents that had been sheltering displaced people. Most had evacuated, but Abu Safiya said he found the bodies of four people who had been crushed.

—Asked about the incident, the Israeli military spokesman’s office said bodies were discovered that had been buried previously, unrelated to the military’s activities.

—The military said Hamas used the hospital as a command center but produced no evidence. It said soldiers uncovered weapons but showed footage only of a single pistol.


—The military said it arrested dozens of suspected militants, including the hospital director Dr. Ahmed al-Kahlout. The military released footage of him under interrogation saying he was a Hamas agent and that militants were based in the hospital. His colleagues said he spoke under duress.

ISABEL DEBRE
DeBre writes about Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay for The Associated Press, based in Buenos Aires. Before moving to South America in 2024, she covered the Middle East reporting from Jerusalem, Cairo and Dubai.

JULIA FRANKEL
Frankel is an Associated Press reporter in Jerusalem.


LEE KEATH
Keath is the chief editor for feature stories in the Middle East for The Associated Press. He has reported from Cairo since 2005.

Concern grows for Iran woman detained over underwear protest

By AFP
November 5, 2024

The woman's fate has mobilised attention worldwide - Copyright POOL/AFP/File GIL COHEN-MAGEN

Stuart WIilliams and Cecile Feuillatre

Concern grew Tuesday for an Iranian student arrested after stripping to her underwear in protest at alleged harassment over her dress, with activists worried authorities could confine her in a psychiatric institution.

In videos shared on social media, the woman, a student at Tehran’s prestigious Islamic Azad University, was seen protesting outside the campus on Saturday dressed only in her bra and underpants.

Persian-language media outside Iran have reported university security guards harassed her over what she was wearing, ripping her headscarf and clothes. She then took most of them off in protest.

Other footage showed her defiantly walking down the street before plainclothes agents bundled her into an unmarked car and drove her away.

It remains unclear where she is being held.

Many activists regard her as a new icon of the struggle for women’s rights in Iran, more than two years after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, following her arrest for an alleged breach of the statutory dress code for women, sparked months of nationwide protests.

But Iranian authorities have alleged the student has a mental disorder, a claim activists fear may be a pretext for confining her in a psychiatric institution.

Rights group Amnesty International has called for the woman’s immediate and unconditional release, saying she “removed her clothes in protest against abusive enforcement of compulsory veiling by security officials”.

“I hail the courage of this young woman who demonstrated her resistance and turned herself into an icon for the women’s struggle in Iran,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told broadcaster France 2.

Under the dress code mandatory in Iran, women must wear a headscarf and loose-fitting clothes in public.



– ‘Tool to suppress dissent’ –



In a statement released Tuesday, the Iranian embassy in Paris said it wanted to address “false information” over the incident.

It said initial indications had “shown the student was suffering from family problems and a fragile psychological condition”.

“Signs of abnormal behaviour had already been observed by those close to her, including family members and students in her year,” it alleged.

Activists accused the authorities of seeking to portray women who protest against the dress code as mentally unstable.

“Iranian authorities systematically use involuntary psychiatric hospitalisation as a tool to suppress dissent, branding protesters as mentally unstable to undermine their credibility,” said the director of the New York-based Centre for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), Hadi Ghaemi.

News website Iran Wire, which is based outside the country, said the woman was a “seventh-semester French language student” who had no previous history of mental health issues.



– ‘Symbol’ –



Several dozen people protested in Paris on Tuesday in support of the woman, with members of the feminist collective Femen stripping to their underwear and brandishing “Woman. Life. Freedom” slogans.

“We have no news of her. But what we do know is that the regime’s script is in full swing and she is now being presented as crazy and hysterical,” said Chirinne Ardakani, lawyer and member of the Iran Justice collective that organised the demonstration.

Iranian lawyer and Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi accused the authorities of “repeating the same threadbare scenario that the protester has a mental disorder”, and saying transferring such people to mental hospitals was “the most severe torture”.

Fellow Nobel Peace laureate Narges Mohammadi, who remains in Tehran’s Evin prison, said the student had turned her body into a “symbol of dissent”.

“Women pay the price for defiance, but we do not bow down to force… I call for her freedom and an end to the harassment of women,” Mohammadi said in a message from prison posted on her social media channels.

The video of the student strolling calmly in Tehran amid other women in the black Islamic chador dress has also captured the imagination of celebrities.

“Bravery,” said French film star Marion Cotillard as she posted the video on Instagram.

“You killed, you beat, you imprisoned… but the story ends with the victory of those who refuse to submit to your oppression,” said Iran-born and now France-based actor Golshifteh Farahani.

STALINIST MONARCHY

Award-winning Cambodian reporter quits journalism after arrest


By AFP
November 5, 2024


Cambodian journalist Mech Dara, who won an international award for his reporting on scam compounds, says he is leaving the profession after spending three weeks in jail - Copyright AFP TANG CHHIN Sothy
Suy SE

A high-profile Cambodian reporter who won an international award for uncovering alleged cyber scams told AFP Tuesday that he is quitting journalism, saying he has lost “courage” after being arrested by the authorities and freed on bail.

Police arrested Mech Dara on September 30 on charges of inciting social disorder, drawing condemnation from around the world.

He was released on bail three weeks later after apologising to Cambodia’s former leader Hun Sen and his son Prime Minister Hun Manet in a video shot while he was in prison.

“I have decided that I am retiring from journalism because of the arrest, the questioning and imprisonment,” Dara told AFP.

“I am still afraid.”

Dara said he was questioned all night after his arrest, and police threatened to hit him and deny him food and water unless he cooperated.

“I have lost my courage. It has attacked my spirit, and I have no more courage,” Dara said, referring to the arrest and time he spent in prison.

“The questioning and then being in the prison, it really, really crushed my soul — the soul that is always with me, no matter what is happening, I continue to report. But that spirit or soul is not with me any more.”

He also urged the court to drop the charges against him.

Hun Manet on Monday posted pictures of him meeting Dara, including one showing the pair embracing one another.

Dara said he informed Hun Manet of his decision to quit journalism during the meeting, which took place a day after his release.



– Scam farm reporting –



Police detained Dara, 36, after stopping a car carrying him and his family from Sihanoukville, a coastal city where many suspected cyber scam operations take place.

His reporting over 10 years has appeared in various international news outlets and he worked for the independent Voice of Democracy in Cambodia before the authorities shut it down in February 2023.

Dara has since used his social media platforms to share news content, particularly around the proliferation of “scam farms” — criminal operations that defraud victims online for vast sums of money and fuel human trafficking across the region.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last year presented Dara with a Hero Award, which recognises efforts against human trafficking, for investigations into exploitation at the online scam compounds.

The award hailed his “courageous reporting on human trafficking for the purpose of forced criminality”, saying it had led to the government improving its response to the problem.

The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) press freedom campaign group said Dara’s departure would “leave a hole in the Cambodian journalistic field”.

“By repressing journalists such as Mech Dara, the Cambodian government sent a chilling message and directly threatens any remaining independent journalists in the country,” RSF’s Aleksandra Bielakowska told AFP.

Beh Lih Yi, Asia Program Coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said the departure of independent journalism was “alarming”.

“Cambodia’s once vibrant free press is a ghost of its former self after nearly four decades of Hun Sen’s iron-fisted rule. Prime Minister Hun Manet is no different from his father,” Beh told AFP.

Dara’s arrest came a day after he posted an image on social media purportedly showing a tourist site demolished to make way for a quarry, according to the Cambodian Journalists’ Alliance Association.

Local authorities labelled the now-deleted images “fake news” and called for Dara to face punishment for their publication.

After announcing charges against Dara, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court accused him of posting messages on social media platforms designed to “ignite anger (and) to make people misunderstand about the leadership of the Cambodian government”.

The charge of incitement is frequently used by Cambodian authorities against activists, and Dara could face up to two years in jail if convicted.

Cambodia places near the bottom of international press freedom rankings and rights groups have long accused the government of using legal cases as a tool to silence dissenting voices.

DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS!

Afghanistan poppy cultivation grows 19 percent despite ban: UN


By AFP

November 6, 2024

An Afghan farmer harvests opium sap from a poppy field in Badakhshan province in May, 2024 - Copyright AFP/File OMER ABRAR

Opium cultivation rose by 19 percent in Afghanistan this year, the UN reported Wednesday, despite a Taliban government ban that almost eradicated the crop.

Currently, 12,800 hectares of poppies are cultivated in Afghanistan — where up to 80 percent of the population depends on agriculture — a new survey by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shows, the agency said in a statement.

The 19 percent increase year-on-year remains far below the 232,000 hectares cultivated when Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada banned the crop in April 2022, nearly a year after the Taliban returned to power, UNODC added.

The centre of poppy cultivation has also shifted, the agency noted, and is now concentrated in northeastern provinces instead of in the Taliban strongholds of southern Afghanistan.

In May, clashes between farmers and brigades sent to destroy their poppy fields resulted in several deaths in northeastern Badakhshan.

Following the poppy ban, prices soared for the resin from which opium and heroin are made.

During the first half of 2024, prices stabilised around $730 per kilogram, (two pounds) according to the UNODC, compared to about $100 per kg before 2022.

For years Afghanistan was the world’s biggest supplier of opium and heroin.

Many farmers in Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, were hit hard financially by the ban and have not been able to reap the same profits from alternative crops.

Even legal crops are only a short-term solution, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG), “so the focus should be on job creation in non-farm industries”.

The UNODC and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) called for international support for farmers to transition to alternative crops and livelihoods, something the Taliban government has requested.

“With opium cultivation remaining at a low level in Afghanistan, we have the opportunity and responsibility to support Afghan farmers to develop sustainable sources of income free from illicit markets,” said UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly in the statement.

Norway speeds ahead of EU in race for fossil-free roads


By AFP
November 5, 2024

Baard Gundersen at the wheel of his electric BMW iX in Baerum, Oslo

 - Copyright AFP CHARLY TRIBALLEAU, Rebecca DROKE

Pierre-Henry DESHAYES

On the quiet streets of an Oslo suburb, electric vehicles are parked in nearly every other driveway as Norway speeds towards its goal of becoming the first country free of fossil fuel-powered cars.

Electric cars make up 43 percent of all cars in Baerum, with resident Baard Gundersen making the switch in 2016.

Now on his second fully electric car, the CEO of a coffee company described his decision as a “no-brainer”.

“It was much cheaper to buy a car like this than a traditional car, almost half price,” he said at the wheel of his BMW iX SUV.

Despite being a major oil and gas producer, Norway has adopted the most ambitious electric vehicle (EV) objective in the world: only zero-emission private new cars will be sold from next year.

While not a European Union member, Norway would beat the bloc’s deadline to phase out the sale of fossil fuel-burning cars by 2035 by a decade.

Driven by the popularity of Teslas, electric cars accounted for a staggering 96.4 percent of new car registrations in Norway in September, vastly outpacing the European average of 17.3 percent.

Norway has come a long way since 2012, when EVs only made up 2.8 percent of the market.

The boom has much to do with proactive policy.

At the turn of the century, authorities exempted electric cars from certain taxes.

Norway had never had its own carmaker, and the hope was that the policies would create fertile ground for a homegrown EV champion.

It turned out to be in vain, as Norway’s Pivco electric car maker — later renamed Think and for a while owned by Ford — went bankrupt in 2011.

But the tax exemptions remained — even if some have been rolled back in recent years — making all-electric cars competitively priced compared to those with combustion engines, which are heavily taxed.

“We have used the stick for fossil vehicles and the carrot for electric cars,” Cecilie Knibe Kroglund, state secretary at Norway’s transport ministry, told AFP.

“It’s possible that other countries will have to use other types of incentives depending on usage, their geography and the way public transport works. But as far as we are concerned, our incentives have worked very well,” she said.

– A-ha takes on EVs –

Electric cars have also long benefited from other special privileges, like exemptions from city tolls and free parking in public car parks.

This was prompted by a civil disobedience campaign in the 1990s by environmental activist Frederic Hauge, co-founder of the NGO Bellona, and Morten Harket, the singer of iconic Norwegian pop group A-ha — famous for the hit “Take On Me”.

Travelling around in a small Fiat Panda — converted to be electric — the two men stubbornly racked up a mountain of fines which they refused to pay in an effort to promote zero-emission vehicles.

Their trusty car was finally seized, but a few years later authorities ended up granting electric vehicles, which were still rare at the time, the special privileges.

“I didn’t feel like I was entering into the role of a rebel really,” Harket told the BBC in 2022.

“It was just necessary.”

In 2005, the government also allowed electric cars to use lanes reserved for public transport — thus enabling them to avoid traffic jams.

These benefits have eroded somewhat since, but in the meantime electric cars have become the norm in the Scandinavian country.

Over the past decade, technology and car ranges have also evolved along with the development of a vast network of charging stations.

In September, the number of electric cars on Norwegian roads exceeded that of petrol cars for the first time and they are hot on the heels of diesel cars — which are still the country’s most popular vehicles.

Since November 1, all taxis in Oslo have had to be emissions-free.

– Transferable model? –

German carmaker Volkswagen, the top brand in Norway, delivered its last internal combustion car, a Golf, to Norway in July.

“Since January 1, we have removed all fossil-fuelled cars from our catalogue,” Kim Clemetsen, head of marketing at a dealership that imports the brand, said.

“We now only sell electric cars.”

Other brands, such as Toyota, are resisting the push and are planning to continue to offer hybrid cars and even combustion engines in 2025.

Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, a staunch defender of rural interests, has also thrown a spanner in the works by saying that it is “not a problem at all” if “a few” combustion-powered vehicles are still sold next year.

But if current trends hold, the country should come very close to achieving its ambition of 100 percent zero-emissions vehicles.

Christina Bu, secretary general of the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association, thinks this should be encouraging to other countries aiming to phase out combustion engines.

“Norway was in many ways not a very likely country to succeed with this: it’s a big country, long distances, very cold temperatures in winter, which affects the range of the car,” Bu told AFP.

“So there’s not really any reason why Norway should succeed rather than another country.”