Vietnam to restrict which social media accounts can post news

Rita Liao



With the rising tide of fake news on social media platforms, the debate over how much control a government should have on online information is a perennial one. In Vietnam, the government is intensifying its control over the internet regime. The country is formulating new rules to control which types of social media accounts are allowed to disseminate news in the country, Reuters reported, citing sources.

The decision, according to Reuters, results from the government's concerns over users mistaking social media accounts for authorized news outlets.

While citizens might want the government to boot genuinely misleading information, the risk of more regulatory oversight is a loss of freedom by the people. Vietnam already has one of the world's most restrictive internet governance regimes and was given an "internet freedom score" of 22 out of 100 by the pro-democracy nonprofit Freedom House. That makes its internet freedom worse than that of Russia (30/100) and Saudi Arabia (24/100).

The authorities are also weighing new measures that would ask social media platforms to remove content that is illegal or deemed to harm national security, according to Reuters.

The approach would put the burden on the likes of Facebook, Instagram, ByteDance-owned TikTok, and Tencent-backed messenger Zalo to purge content unwanted by the authorities. Western giants are already showing obedience to stay operational in the country of 100 million people.

In its annual report, the Vietnamese Human Rights Network said "several media platforms, especially Facebook, have complied with the Vietnamese government’s escalating demand to censor dissidents." The American social networking behemoth was caught between a rock and a hard place. In 2020, when it balked at the country's request to remove posts critical of the government, the authorities used their control over local internet providers to slow its traffic to unusable levels.

Vietnam's restriction on social media news dissemination is reminiscent of a recent move by China to crack down on unauthorized news publishers. Last year, Beijing said social media accounts posting news must hold the relevant media licenses. Press accreditation in China is almost exclusively reserved for state-owned outlets, meaning the millions of content creators would have to shun all things newsworthy.

Indeed, some have likened Vietnam's grip over the internet to China's censorship model. When Vietnam rolled out its cybersecurity law in 2021, many saw the Southeast Asian country as following in China's footsteps. For example, the law requires foreign tech giants like Facebook and Google to store user data locally and allows the government to block access to content that could be defined as dangerous to national security, similar to China's request to have Apple's and Tesla's local user data kept within its borders.

Facebook agrees to restrict anti-government content in Vietnam after months of throttling

Families Leave Offerings for Children Slain at Thai Day Care

• BY ERISIAN
• OCTOBER 9, 2022

"The Police are the Murderers of the People" 

UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand — Families offered flowers and dolls, popcorn and juice boxes to children massacred at a day care center in Thailand, part of a Buddhist ceremony held Sunday just paces from where the slaughter began that was meant to guide the young souls back to their bodies.

“Come back home” and “come back with us,” the relatives called into the empty day care center, many with tears in their eyes.

The gun and knife attack on the Young Children’s Development Center in Uthai Sawan was Thailand’s deadliest mass killing, and it robbed the small farming community of much of its youngest generation. The former police officer who stormed the building killed two dozen people at the day care before taking more lives as he fled, including his wife and child, police said. He then killed himself.

Ceremonies were held Sunday at three temples, where the 36 victims — mostly preschoolers — were taken ahead of funeral rites and cremation on Tuesday.

Maneerat Tanonethong — whose 3-year-old Chaiyot Kijareon was killed at the day care center — said the rituals were helping her with her grief.

“I am trying not think about horrible images and focus on how lovely he was. … But I don’t know what I will do with myself once this is all over,” she said. “I am determined that I will try let go of this, that I won’t hold any grudge against the perpetrator and understand that all of these will end in this life.”

At Rat Samakee temple, family members sat in front of the tiny coffins while Buddhist monks chanted prayers. They placed trays of food, toys and milk along the outside of the temple walls as offerings to the spirits of their slain children.

Later, they headed to the day care center and gathered in front of a makeshift memorial there to receive the slain children’s belongings. They made offerings of their kids’ favorite foods and lit incense and candles as they implored the children’s souls to return to their bodies.

Many Buddhists in Thailand believe that in cases of unnatural death, the soul becomes stranded in the place where the person perished and must be reunited with the body before eventual rebirth.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha is expected to attend evening prayers at the three temples where bodies were brought later Sunday.

Police identified the attacker as Panya Kamrap, 34, a police sergeant fired earlier this year after being charged with a drug offense.

An employee at the day care told Thai media that Panya’s son had attended the center but hadn’t been there for about a month. Police have said they believe Panya was under stress from tensions between him and his wife, and money problems.

The attack has left no one in the small community untouched, and brought international media attention to the remote, rural area. Thai authorities on Sunday fined two CNN journalists for working in the country on tourist visas but cleared them of wrongdoing for entering the day care center, saying they had filmed inside believing they had obtained permission.

Deputy national police chief Surachate Hakparn said the journalists were waved into the building by a volunteer or a health officer and did not know the person was not authorized to allow them inside.

In a statement, Mike McCarthy, CNN International’s executive vice president and general manager, said the team sought permission to enter the building but “now understands that these officials were not authorized to grant this permission.”

Mass killings in Thailand are rare but not unheard of.

In 2020, a disgruntled soldier opened fire in and around a mall in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima, killing 29 people and holding off security forces for some 16 hours before being killed by them.

Prior to that, a 2015 bombing at a shrine in Bangkok left 20 people dead. It was allegedly carried out by human traffickers in retaliation for a crackdown on their network.

Contact us at letters@time.com.

Canada's economy has scope to slow with 'exceptionally high' vacant jobs, central-bank governor says

Governor of the Bank of Canada Tiff Macklem walks outside the Bank of Canada building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada June 22, 2020. 

REUTERS/Blair Gable/File Photo

TORONTO, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said there is scope to slow the economy based on an "exceptionally high number" of job vacancies in the labor market.

In an interview aired on CBC Radio on Sunday, Macklem said the current inflation fight is the biggest test the central bank has faced since it started targeting inflation 30 years ago.

But he assured Canadians that monetary policy is working and he expected inflation to return to the central bank's 2% target by 2024. Canada's headline inflation rate dropped to 7.0% in August, with core inflation running at about 5%. read more

"We need to cool the economy, (but) we don't want to over- cool the economy," Macklem said.

"When we look at the economy right now, there is an exceptionally high number of vacant jobs ... that's a clear signal that there is scope to slow the economy, without a lot of people put out of work," he added.

Canadian employers were actively looking to fill nearly 1 million jobs as of July, data released on Friday showed, while the job vacancy rate dropped to 5.4% in July, from a peak 6.0% in April 2022. read more

The Bank of Canada has raised its benchmark interest rate by 300 basis points since March, one of its steepest and fastest tightening cycles ever. Economists and money markets are leaning toward a 50-basis-point increase on Oct. 26.

Macklem said parts of the economy that are sensitive to interest rate increases are starting to slow.

"Let me be clear, what we don't want is ... inflation and wages to become unmoored to our 2% objective, because if that happens, then we are actually going to need to slow the economy a lot more to get the inflation back to 2%. That's what we have been what we call front-loading our interest rate increases," Macklem added.

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