e_Paper 24-04-2017

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DT 8 World MONDAY, APRIL 24, 2017 SOUTH ASIA Few clues on casualties at site of huge US bomb in Afghanistan The remote site in eastern Afghanistan where the US military dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb ever bears signs of the weapon’s power, but little evidence of how much material and human damage it inflicted. Some of the first images from journalists allowed to get close to the site, reveal a scarred mountainside, burned trees and some ruined mud-brick structures. AFP INDIA Tamil Nadu farmers suspend protest till May 25 Drought-hit Tamil Nadu farmers, who have been protesting in the national capital for the last 41 days, called off their agitation on Sunday after chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami met with them earlier in the day. The farmers decided to put off their stir till May 25, after Palaniswami promised to take up their demands with PM Narendra Modi. The farmers have been demanding a Rs40,000 crore drought relief package. HT CHINA China urges Korea peninsula denuclearisation China’s foreign minister called Sunday for the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula amid rising tension over North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes. “China is firmly supporting the denuclearisation of the area in the name of stability and peace”, Wang Yi told reporters in Athens after meeting Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias. AFP ASIA PACIFIC US warship in west Pacific for Japan navy drills The US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and other warships started joint exercises with Japan on Sunday, the US navy said, as regional tensions rise over North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes. The exercises are being held in the Philippine Sea, as the naval strike group “continued its northern transit in the Western Pacific”. REUTERS MIDDLE EAST Drone strike kills 5 Qaeda suspects in Yemen A presumed US drone strike in south Yemen on Sunday killed five suspected members of al-Qaeda and three civilians, a security official said. Earlier, a local official gave a toll of three suspects killed in the strike in the Al-Said area of Shabwa province. AFP France may catch populist wave in presidential election • Tribune Desk French voters began casting ballots for the presidential election Sunday under heightened security in a tense first-round poll that’s seen as a test for the spread of populism around the world. Over 60,000 polling stations opened for voters who will choose between 11 candidates in the most unpredictable election in decades. Security was tight after a deadly attack on the Champs Elysees on Thursday in which a police officer and a gunman were slain. The government has mobilised more than 50,000 police and gendarmes to protect polling stations, with an additional 7,000 soldiers on patrol. It’s the first time in living memory a presidential election is taking place during a state of emergency, FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: KEY 1 ST ROUND NUMBERS Registered voters Latest polls Millions Percentage support (margins of error included)* 46 47 2012 Abstention In percent 28.4 2002 16.2 20.5 2007 Emmanuel Macron 2017 Centre 19.4 26.6% Marine Le Pen 26 to Far right 19.4 26.2 34% Francois FIllon Right 16.3 22.5 Jean-Luc Melenchon Far left 14.6 22.5 Benoit Hamon Left 5.9 10.8 2012 2017 estimate 5 10 15 20 25 30 2012 2017 10 candidates 11, six of whom ran in 2012 2012 first round results In percent which 28.6% was 27.2 put in place after the Paris attacks of November 2015. 17.9 As of noon Sunday, 28.5% of 11.1 9.1 French voters had shown up to cast ballots in an election seen as unprecedented here. The French 2.3 1.8 1.1 0.6 0.3 Hollande Francois Sarkozy Nicolas Marine Le Pen Melenchon Jean-Luc Francois Eva Bayrou Joly Dupont- Nicolas Philippe Nathalie Jacques Aignan Poutou ArthaudCheminade UK parties set Sources: out Interior Ministry, election *aggregation of 14 polls (April 13-19) stalls: from 8 pollsters Holidays, burka bans, Brexit vote • Reuters, London More holidays, a burka ban and an end to hard Brexit - just some of the policies Britain’s opposition parties hope will prevent an overwhelming election victory by Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May in June. With some polls giving May a more than 20 point lead before the June 8 vote, the main opposition Labour Party pledged on Sunday to introduce four new public holidays to try to unite a country left deeply divided by the Brexit vote. The Liberal Democrats, who were a distant fourth in the last election, reiterated their message that they were the only “decent opposition” to a government it says is pursuing a ‘hard Brexit’, while the eurosceptic UK Independence Party said it would ban full veils worn by some Muslim women. The early election, which stunned British politicians, could redraw the political landscape after Brexit exposed deep fault-lines in Britain, with Scotland and northern Ireland voting to remain in the EU while England and Wales supported an exit. Britain can expect to hear more promises in the weeks before the election, but with May way out ahead in the polls, it is unclear what impact they will have. The Conservatives were also seen making inroads in Scotland, with pollster Survation saying they had opened up a 10 percentage point lead over the Scottish Labour Party. • German AfD party pick election duo Alice Weidel, left, and Alexander Gauland • Tribune Desk The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on Sunday voted for 76-year-old publicist Alexander Gauland and 38-year-old economist Alice Weidel to jointly lead its campaign for the country’s September national election. A majority of AfD delegates REUTERS backed the two candidates at a congress in Cologne. The right-wing AfD is seeking to win seats in the national parliament for the first time. The vote followed a surprise announcement on Wednesday by co-leader Frauke Petry, the party’s public face, that she would not lead the AfD’s election campaign. This could boost mainstream parties and lessen the threat the rightwing AfD poses to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s bid for a fourth term. The latest polls put the AfD on 8% to 10%, around a third lower than at the end of last year but still above the 5% threshold for entering the Bundestag lower house of parliament. Gauland is widely seen a supporter of senior AfD member Bjoern Hoecke, who caused outrage in January by calling Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial a “monument of shame” and demanding a “180 degree turnaround” in Germany’s attempts to atone for Nazi crimes. Weidel, a little-known figure in the AfD who is seen as a more moderate voice, is in favour of Hoecke being expelled. She has sought to establish herself as a financial and economy expert in the party. • interior ministry said that’s slightly above the rate in the 2012 vote. Opinion polls point to a tight race among the four leading contenders vying to advance to the May 7 presidential runoff, when the top two candidates face off. Polls suggest far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron, an independent centrist and former economy minister, were in the lead. But conservative Francois Fillon, a former prime minister, who was embroiled in a scandal over alleged fake jobs appeared to be closing the gap, as was far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon. US President Donald Trump weighed in on the campaign on Friday, expressing support for the Le Pen, saying she is “strongest on borders, and she’s the strongest on what’s been going on in France.” • EU mulls legislation in the fight against online hate speech • Reuters, Brussels The European Union is considering legislative measures to harmonise how online platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google take down hate speech and incitement to violence, according to a draft document. The proliferation of hate speech and fake news on social media has led to companies coming under increased pressure to take it down quickly. In a draft policy paper, the European Commission says there is a “high degree of variation in the approaches taken to removal of illegal content – be it incitement to terrorism, hate speech, child sexual abuse material, or infringements of intellectual property rights”. The Commission says it may come forward with legislative and/ or non-legislative instruments by the end of the year to address “legal fragmentation and uncertainty related to the removal of illegal content by online platforms”. Germany last month unveiled a law which would fine social media companies up to $53.62m if they fail to remove hate postings quickly, prompting concerns it could threaten free speech. Facebook, Twitter, Google’s You- Tube and Microsoft last year agreed to an EU code of conduct to tackle online hate speech within 24 hours, but were criticised by the Commission for not being fast enough. •

Furious Afghans call for resignations after Taliban base attack • AFP, Mazar-i-Sharif Afghan families buried their dead and the country observed a national day of mourning Sunday after at least 100 soldiers were killed or wounded in a Taliban attack on a military base, prompting angry calls for ministers and army chiefs to resign. The exact toll from Friday’s assault in the northern province of Balkh remained unclear, with some local officials putting the number of dead alone as high as 150. The raid, the deadliest-ever by the Taliban on a military base, underscores their growing strength more than 15 years after they were ousted from power. Maldives liberal blogger stabbed to death • AFP, Male Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, right, meets with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Riyadh on April 23 REUTERS Egypt’s Sisi visits Saudi Arabia as tensions ease • AFP, Riyadh Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received a royal welcome from King Salman as he landed Sunday in Saudi Arabia for a visit to boost ties after months of tension. Salman, surrounded by key Saudi officials, greeted Sisi as he stepped off the plane in the capital Riyadh and hosted him for lunch, the official Saudi Press Agency said. The Egyptian presidency announced the visit in a statement on Friday, saying Sisi’s trip was in response to an invitation by Salman and aimed at “bolstering strategic relations between the two countries”. It said Salman and Sisi would discuss “regional and international issues of common interest”. Sisi met Salman on the sidelines of an Arab League summit in Jordan last month to break the ice after months of apparent tensions between the two allies. That encounter on March 29 came days after Egypt announced that Saudi energy giant Aramco had resumed delivering shipments of petroleum products after abruptly suspending them in October. • A liberal blogger was stabbed to death in the Maldives’ capital Sunday, his family and colleagues said, the latest media personality to be targeted in the troubled honeymoon destination. Yameen Rasheed, 29, was found in the stairwell of his Male apartment with multiple stab wounds to his neck and chest. He died after being taken to hospital. His blog, The Daily Panic, was known for poking fun at the nation’s politicians. “With The Daily Panic, I hope to cover and comment upon the news, satirise the frequently unsatirisable politics of Maldives,” he wrote on his blog. Colleagues said Rasheed had recently complained to police about death threats received through his social media accounts. He is the third media figure to be targeted in the Maldives in the past five years. Blogger Ismail Rasheed narrowly escaped death when he was stabbed by an unidentified attacker in 2012. A journalist with the independent Minivan News, Ahmed Rilwan, was likely abducted in August 2014 and has World Afghan activists pay tribute to the victims of a Taliban attack on an army base at a memorial on the Wazir Akbar Khan hilltop in Kabul on April 23 AFP Flags flew at half-mast throughout the country and special prayers were said for the dead. The defence ministry gave a figure of at least 100 soldiers killed or wounded. Kabul has so far ignored media calls for a complete breakdown of casualties from the fivehour attack near the provincial capital of Mazar-i-Sharif. There was also growing anger online, with many slamming the government for its inability to counter a series of brazen Taliban assaults, including one on the country’s largest military hospital in Kabul in March that left dozens dead. Twelve army officers, including two generals, were sacked for negligence over that attack. Many internet commentators called for the resignation of Defence Minister Abdullah Habibi and the commander of the 209th Corps stationed at the base. • Iran to air live presidential debates after U-turn • AFP, Tehran Iran will air live debates on state television ahead of May’s presidential election, the interior ministry said Sunday, reversing a decision to show recorded versions that had triggered an outcry. “After demands by the Iranian nation and the candidates for a review (of the decision), the presidential elections campaign commission decided... that debates may be broadcast live,” the ministry said in a statement on official news agency IRNA. The U-turn came days after the commission, which sets campaigning rules ahead of the May 19 poll, said the debates would not be broadcast live as in previous elections, sparking outrage on social media. Moderate President Hassan Rouhani and his conservative rivals Ebrahim Raisi and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf all rejected the ban. Yameen Rasheed TWITTER Televised debates are a relatively new feature of Iranian presidential elections and are believed to have influenced the results of votes in 2009 and 2013. The ban on live debates was seen as an attempt to avoid embarrassing certain candidates by exposing details about their actions in previous roles. Ghalibaf lost momentum in a 2013 election bid after his rival Rouhani said the hardline former police chief had proposed allowing student protests in 1999 so security forces could crush them. In 2009, live debates between conservative incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and reformist candidates Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi turned into heated exchanges of accusations that many said went too far for the regime. Karroubi and Mousavi have been under house arrest since 2011 for leading protests against the re-election of Ahmadinejad. • been missing ever since. Colleagues said Yameen Rasheed was Rilwan’s friend and had been publicly campaigning for an investigation into the disappearance. Past and current presidents condemned the killing. “We will not stand idly by while such acts of hatred are forced upon our citizens,” President Abdulla Yameen said, appealing for people to come forward with information. Exiled opposition leader and ex-president Mohamed Nasheed demanded an international investigation. Nasheed, who is living in London, said on Twitter that “a treasured soul has been stolen from us”. • 9 MONDAY, APRIL 24, 2017 USA Top US officials to testify in Trump-Russia probe reboot The US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee said on Friday it had invited FBI, NSA and Obama administration officials to testify as it restarts its investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election. The bipartisan committee said it sent a letter inviting James Comey to appear behind closed doors on May 2. AFP THE AMERICAS Silent protest over 20 deaths in Venezuela Dressed in white, Venezuelan protesters opposed to President Nicolas Maduro marched in silence in several cities on Saturday to pay respects to 20 people killed in three weeks of unrest. Unlike demonstrations in recent days, the rallies in Caracas, Maracaibo, Barquisimeto and San Cristobal passed with no major violence reported between protesters and police. AFP UK May’s Conservatives on course for sweeping election victory Theresa May appeared on course to win a crushing election victory in June after opinion polls put support for her ruling Conservative party at around 50%, double that of the opposition Labour party. May’s decision to call a June 8 election stunned her political rivals this week and a string of polls released late on Saturday suggested the gamble had paid off, with one from ComRes showing the party of Margaret Thatcher enjoying levels of support not seen since 1991. REUTERS EUROPE Thousands of Hungarians rally to mock PM Orban Thousands of Hungarians joined a rally mocking Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Saturday, in the latest protest against what they call his attacks on democracy and human rights. Around 4,000-5,000 demonstrators walked with banners bearing heavily ironic slogans such as “we do not need elections”. REUTERS AFRICA Top conservationist shot in Kenya gun attack DT Italian-born conservationist and writer Kuki Gallman was Sunday seriously injured after being shot in her conservation park in Kenya’s drought-stricken centre. Gallman, whose best-selling autobiography “I Dreamed of Africa” was made into a film with Kim Basinger playing Gallman, was “shot in the stomach during an attack” at the sprawling Laikipia Nature Conservancy, a senior police officer said. AFP

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Page 3 and 4: Workplace safety in govt-inspected

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Page 17 and 18: What’s on 17 MONDAY, APRIL 24, 20

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Page 23 and 24: Aynabaji on TV Showtime 23 MONDAY,

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