MOSCOW, Dec 21,2023: Former TV journalist Yekaterina Duntsova put her name forward on Wednesday to stand in a Russian presidential election in March that Vladimir Putin is expected to win by a landslide.
Duntsova, 40, called in an interview with Reuters last month for an end to the conflict in Ukraine and the release of political prisoners including opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
She submitted documents to officials at the Central Electoral Commission to formally enter the election in which Putin’s victory is widely seen as a foregone conclusion by supporters and opponents alike.
She now faces a major hurdle to obtain 300,000 signatures in support of her candidacy, from all across Russia, by Jan. 31.
But Duntsova corrected a reporter who asked her if she thought the authorities would actually allow her to stand.
“Why are we talking about permission if this is my right according to the law and I have that possibility and have the necessary qualities to put myself forward?” she replied.
“We are just moving according to the formula prescribed by federal law, and for that we don’t need anyone’s permission.”
Putin, 71, has been in power as president or prime minister since 1999 and is seeking another six-year term. With Navalny serving prison sentences totalling more than 30 years and other leading Kremlin critics either behind bars or outside the country because of the risk of arrest, there is no established opposition figure to challenge him.
Navalny’s supporters call the process a sham, saying the Kremlin, via the electoral commission, controls who can run and can easily manipulate the vote if needed with the help of an opaque electronic voting system. The Kremlin says Putin will win because he enjoys overwhelming public support, with opinion poll ratings of around 80%.
Putin announced earlier this month that he would run, but no other candidate has formally applied so far. Those backed by a political party only need 100,000 signatures.
In her interview with Reuters, Duntsova avoided using the word “war” to describe the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which Putin calls a “special military operation”, and acknowledged she was afraid.
“Any sane person taking this step would be afraid – but fear must not win,” she said.
ROME, Dec 21,2023: Italy’s lower house of parliament voted on Thursday against a long-awaited reform of the euro zone bailout fund, throwing into doubt ratification of an EU treaty that is designed to provide help for failing banks.
The vote confirmed the deep hostility within Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s ruling coalition to the overhaul of the so-called European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which has been approved by all other eurozone countries bar Italy.
“For six months here, there will be no talk about ESM,” Ylenia Lucaselli, from Meloni’s nationalist Brothers of Italy party, told reporters.
Deputy Economy Minister Maurizio Leo said parliament was sovereign and the government had to recognise its decision.
Meloni and Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti were not in the chamber on Thursday for the debate and subsequent vote, which saw approval for the ESM defeated by 184 votes against to 72 in favour, with 44 abstentions.
Brothers of Italy party and Giorgetti’s League both voted against, whilst the other main coalition group, Forza Italia, abstained. The opposition 5-Star Movement, headed by former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, also opposed the motion.
The ESM can offer a lifeline to euro zone governments cut off from markets, or recapitalise banks and provide precautionary credit. However, many Italian parties fear the pact could trigger a restructuring of Italy’s huge public debt.
The original ESM remains operational, but it cannot support the Single Resolution Fund, responsible for dealing with ailing banks, without Rome signing up to the deal.
Earlier on Thursday the ruling coalition in the budget committee also voted against ratification, complaining that the treaty did not guarantee the involvement of parliament in any eventual request for help.
Meloni has repeatedly criticised the ESM for requiring countries to implement austerity or financial reform programmes in return for its help, saying this would increase the risk of a debt restructuring.
The ESM vote came the day after EU member-states clinched a deal on more lenient fiscal rules. Meloni said the newlook Stability and Growth Pact was better than the old one although she was disappointed it had not excluded strategic investments from countries’ deficit and debt calculations.
The Italian government indicated earlier this month that it would not approve the ESM treaty unless there was first an agreement on the stability pact.
Gaza, Dec 21,2023: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its troops had secured control over Palestinian movement Hamas’ “Elite Quarter” in the center of Gaza City, including the area from where Hamas’ administrative and military leadership operated.
“IDF troops have secured control over Hamas’ “Elite Quarter” in the center of Gaza City, including the area of the ‘Palestine Square’, from where Hamas’ administrative and military leadership operated. The complex includes a large network of tunnels that connects terrorist hideouts, bureaus, and residential apartments belonging to Hamas’ senior leadership. This complex, both above and below ground, was a center of power for Hamas’ military and political wings,” the IDF said on Telegram.
It said that during battles to secure the area, IDF forces eliminated “approximately 600 terrorists” in ground and aerial operations.
On October 7, Hamas launched a large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip across the border, killing over 1,200 people and abducting some 240 others. Israel launched retaliatory strikes, ordered a complete blockade of Gaza and launched a ground incursion into the Palestinian enclave with the declared goal of eliminating Hamas fighters and rescuing the hostages. Over 20,000 people have been killed so far in Gaza as a result of the conflict, local authorities said.
On November 24, Qatar mediated a deal between Israel and Hamas on a temporary truce and the exchange of some of the prisoners and hostages, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. The ceasefire was extended several times and expired on December 1.
Colorado,Monday 20,2023: Colorado’s Supreme Court has ruled former United States President Donald Trump is ineligible to run for the White House because of his role in the 2021 assault on the Capitol by his supporters and should be removed from the state’s primary ballot.
While the ruling only applies to Colorado, it marks the first time in US history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars from public office anyone who “engaged in insurrection”, has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate and comes as courts in other states consider similar legal actions.
“A majority of the court holds that President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the Colorado high court wrote in its four-three majority decision.
“Because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.
“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” they added.
The decision – which Trump’s campaign said it would appeal – drew immediate condemnation from Republicans.
The one-time property tycoon and reality TV star faces a raft of court cases, from criminal charges over alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, to mishandling classified documents, hush money payments in the 2016 election and fraud in his business practices.
Trump has claimed he is the victim of political persecution.
“We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us,” the Colorado justices said. “We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.”
A lower court earlier found that while Trump incited an insurrection, for his role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, he could not be barred from the ballot because it was unclear that the 14th Amendment was intended to cover the presidency.
Jishishan, Gansu Province, Dec 20,2023: The number of injured people from the 6.2-magnitude earthquake in northwest China’s Gansu Province has risen to 782 in Gansu, with the death toll standing at 113 as of 9 a.m. on Wednesday, according to a press conference on Wednesday morning.
The earthquake has taken the lives of 18 people in Qinghai Province, local authorities said on Wednesday morning.
As of 5:30 a.m., there have been 198 reported injuries in Qinghai due to the disaster, with 16 others still missing.
According to the China Earthquake Networks Center, the quake jolted at 11:59 p.m. Monday and has a focal depth of 10 km. The epicenter Liugou Township is about 8 km from the county seat of the Bonan-Dongxiang-Salar Autonomous County of Jishishan in Gansu Province.
Dec 18,2023: Chile has voted to reject a new conservative constitution, leaving the text drafted during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in force.
With nearly all of the ballots tallied on Sunday night, more than 55 percent of Chileans voted against the text, compared with about 44 percent in favour.
The proposed constitution, which was drafted by a committee dominated by the conservative Republican Party, would have reinforced property rights and free-market principles and included limits on immigration and abortion.
The result comes more than a year after Chileans roundly rejected a progressive constitution that would have classified the Latin American country as a plurinational state, established autonomous Indigenous territories and elevated the environment as well as gender equity.
Chile’s leftist President Gabriel Boric, who before the vote pledged to focus on long-term development in favour of further attempts to change the constitution, said the results showed that the country had become polarised and divided.
“I invite you to build together a new era for Chile: growth for all, social justice and citizen security,” Boric, who became Chile’s youngest-ever leader in 2021 at 35, said after the vote. “The country needs everyone.”
Republican Party leader Jose Antonio Kast expressed disappointment over the result.
“We failed in the effort to convince Chileans that this would be a better constitution than the existing one,” he said.
The push to replace the current constitution, adopted during Pinochet’s military dictatorship, was set in motion after as many as 1 million protesters took to the streets in 2019 demanding sweeping political and social change.
While Chile is one of the richest and most stable countries in Latin America, it has some of the highest levels of wealth inequality in the developed world.
In a 2020 referendum, 80 percent of Chileans voted to replace the Pinochet-era constitution, which was widely blamed for allowing companies and the elite to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor, working classes.
But the public’s enthusiasm for change waned in the years following the protests as issues such as crime, the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation took centre stage.
Opinion polls in the weeks leading up to the latest vote had predicted defeat.
“This whole process has been a waste of government money … it’s a joke,” government employee Johanna Anríquez, who voted against the new constitution, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
“Let’s keep the one we have and, please, let’s get on with the work of providing public safety.”
Mexico City, Dec 18,2023: At least 12 people were shot dead early Sunday during a Christmas party in the municipality of Salvatierra of Guanajuato state, Mexico, authorities said.
The bloodshed occurred during a Christmas posada, traditional Mexican celebration, in the community of San Jose del Carmen, the Guanajuato Attorney General’s Office said, adding that investigation is under way.
According to initial reports from the municipal government, a group of armed attackers arrived unexpectedly and opened fire at posada participants, the majority of them young people, leaving 12 dead and 10 injured.
The wounded were taken to hospitals in the municipality, authorities said, without providing details about their conditions.
In recent years, violence has increased in the region due to the dispute between criminal groups seeking control.
Dec 16,2023: More than 40 Sudanese mothers from the embattled Masalit tribe detailed how their children, mostly boys, were shot, beaten or knifed to death by fighters in the Arab-dominated RSF paramilitary and allied militias. The tribe’s leader alleges this years’ attacks are part of a campaign to exterminate his people.
Arab militiamen had shot, stabbed and burned to death members of their tribe, the darker-skinned Masalit people.
Thousands have died in the attacks. The dead include women and girls. Masalit women also have described enduring sexual assault at the hands of the Arab-dominated RSF and its allies, as Reuters detailed last month.
But in the killing sprees, witnesses say, Arab forces have specifically targeted males for death, from infants to adults.
Thirty-six of the mothers told Reuters their children were shot from close range, 33 of them boys and eight girls. Six of the mothers said they watched as their children, some as young as six months old, were beaten to death by RSF and Arab militia fighters. Five of the six children killed this way were boys.
The killers used knives, too: Ten people who escaped to Chad told Reuters they saw children having their throats slit. All were boys.
Most of these children were killed as they fled with their mothers from El Geneina. En route to Chad, five survivors described seeing militiamen stop women with babies, check the child’s sex, and kill it if it turned out to be a boy.
Masalit men were also hunted down by the RSF and its allies. In the most recent round of violence in El Geneina in early November, Reuters revealed that hundreds of young Masalit men were rounded up and taken to various locations in the city where eyewitnesses said some of them were executed.
More than 30 women interviewed for this report said their husbands, brothers or fathers were killed or went missing in this year’s attacks. Several women said they hid their brothers or smuggled them out of El Geneina for fear they would be targeted. Dozens of men recounted how they cut through valleys and traveled along remote routes to Chad to evade checkpoints set up by the RSF and Arab militias.
Five survivors told Reuters they saw militiamen stop women with babies, check the child’s sex, and kill it if it turned out to be a boy.
Reuters was unable to independently corroborate the details of some accounts. In some cases, friends and neighbors confirmed elements of the survivors’ stories. Common patterns also emerged from the descriptions of the violence given by survivors. For some people, Reuters was able to review registration cards issued for refugees by the United Nations.
U.N. workers in Chad have so far collected demographic data on more than a quarter of the 484,000 refugees who have fled Sudan this year and now reside in camps along the border. Based on this data, the U.N. estimates nearly twice as many adult females as males have crossed the border. Despite the targeting of males, the gap is less pronounced among children, where there is almost parity between the number of boys and girls.
Several mothers of slain children, as well as other witnesses, said the militiamen made clear why they were targeting Masalit boys: They wanted to be sure the children wouldn’t grow up to be fighters and one day seek revenge for the attacks on the Masalit.
A Trail of Blood and Fear
The escape route taken by hundreds of thousands of Masalit in fleeing Sudan. Arab forces specifically hunted down and killed male infants, boys and adults along the way, dozens of survivors told Reuters.
Ana Scattone, an emergency protection officer at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the Chadian border town of Adre, said the targeting of males also has a more far-reaching goal. “The objective of the killings seems to be the elimination of future fighters as well as the line of ancestry of a specific ethnic group,” Scattone said.
Dec 15,2023:President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hailed a “victory” for Ukraine and Europe after European Union leaders agreed to open membership talks with Kyiv, but the mood was soured just hours later after Hungary carried through on threats to block plans to channel crucial financial aid to Ukraine.
European Council President Charles Michel, host of the summit in Brussels, announced Thursday’s agreement on membership talks in a social media post, calling it “a clear signal of hope for their people and for our continent”.
Zelenskyy welcomed the decision as “a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe. A victory that motivates, inspires, and strengthens,” he said in a post on X.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said it was “a strategic decision and a day that will remain engraved in the history of our union”.
“These countries belong to the European family,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.
The EU also agreed to open talks with Moldova, and granted EU candidate status to Georgia. Michel said it would also advance an EU bid by another hopeful – Bosnia and Herzegovina – once it reaches “the necessary degree of compliance” with criteria.
Hungary blocks funding
But the mood was soured in the early hours of Friday after Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, announced he had blocked plans for the EU to send 50 billion euros ($54bn) in financial aid to Kyiv as it battles to remove Russian troops from its territory.
For weeks, Orban had been promising to block the membership deal and the funding, which he claimed were not in the interests of Hungary or the EU.
While Orban had agreed not to be in the room for the membership vote – allowing it to pass – they were unable to overcome his resistance to the budget proposal put forward by Michel.
“We still have some time, Ukraine is not out of money in the next few weeks,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters on leaving the talks. “I am fairly confident we can get a deal early next year, we are thinking of late January.”
Zelenskyy has been rallying allies’ support for his country amid concerns their backing might be waning.
Earlier this week, he travelled to the United States, where he hoped to persuade Republican lawmakers to approve billions of dollars in new funding that they have blocked in Congress.
US President Joe Biden has warned their refusal to back the new spending plays into Putin’s hands.
‘United and ready’
Ukraine launched its bid to become part of the EU after Moscow began its full-scale invasion in February 2022 and was officially named a candidate to join in June that year.
Fellow former Soviet republic and neighbour Moldova had applied at the same time as Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine has breathed new life into the EU’s stalled push to take on new members as the bloc looks to keep Russian and Chinese influence at bay.
In June 2022, the European Commission set Kyiv seven reform benchmarks to complete, including tackling corruption and curbing the power of its oligarchs, before talks should start.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said the EU’s decision on Thursday showed that it “highly appreciated the reforms we have made in recent years and the implementation of all the recommendations of the European Commission”.
“A difficult path lies ahead. We are united and ready,” he said.
The talks themselves are likely to take years.
EU treaties oblige members to help “by all means in their power” another EU country that is victim of armed aggression on its territory. If Ukraine becomes an EU member while the war with Russia is ongoing, EU countries would have to respect that.
The EU would also acquire a long new border with Russia and Belarus with implications for security, migration and defence.
Dec 14,2023: Argentina’s government has announced it will slash the value of its currency, the peso, by more than 50 percent against the US dollar as its new far-right president seeks radical solutions to fix the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.
President Javier Milei‘s economy chief announced the painful measure on Tuesday, saying it was necessary for Argentina to “avoid catastrophe”.
The devaluation would drop the peso’s value from 400 to the dollar to more than 800 to the dollar, a blow to tens of millions of Argentinians already struggling to make ends meet.
Economy Minister Luis Caputo announced a raft of other austerity measures, including sweeping subsidy cuts, the cancellation of tenders for public works projects, and plans to axe nine government ministries.
However, the government plans to double social spending for the poorest to help them absorb the economic shock.
“For a few months, we’re going to be worse than before,” Caputo said in his televised address.
“If we continue as we are, we are inevitably heading toward hyperinflation,” he said.
The planned measures drew praise from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to whom Argentina owes $45bn, but sparked harsh criticism from some progressive activists.
Left-wing activist Juan Grabois said that Caputo had declared “a social murder without flinching like a psychopath about to massacre his defenceless victims”.
“Your salary in the private sector, in the public sector, in the popular, social and solidarity economy, in the cooperative or informal sector, for retirees and pensioners, will get you half in the supermarket,” Grabois said. “Do you really think that people are not going to protest?”
Jimena Blanco, chief analyst with risk consulting firm Verisk Maplecroft, said Milei’s government was trying to temper an otherwise guaranteed economic crash landing.
“He promised a very tough pill to swallow and he’s delivering that pill,” she said. “The question is how long will popular patience last in terms of waiting for the economic situation to change.”
Economic shock
The economic overhaul is part of the new strategy by Milei, who was sworn in on Sunday and has aggressively sought to tackle the fiscal deficit he believes is the root of Argentina’s economic woes.
A self-described “anarcho-capitalist”, Milei argues harsh austerity is needed to put Argentina back on the path to prosperity and that there is no time for a gradualist approach. However, he has promised any adjustments will almost entirely affect the state rather than the private sector.
Argentinians, disillusioned with skyrocketing inflation and a 40 percent poverty rate, have proven surprisingly receptive to his vision.
New Delhi, Dec 13,2023: In a major security breach, when the Lok Sabha proceedings was underway, two persons on Wednesday jumped into the house chamber from the visitors’ gallery, triggering panic and chaos among the members.
Televised footage of the proceedings showed the members attempting to catch the intruders as they climbed from desk to desk. The house was adjourned moments later.
One person was seen leaping over the benches of the Lok Sabha while another was seen dangling from the public gallery spraying a yellow-coloured gas when the Zero Hour was in progress.
Both the miscreants have been apprehended by the security personnel and further enquiry is being carried out.
The proceedings in the lower house were adjourned soon after the incident till 2 PM. According to a preliminary probe, tear gas canister was found in the shoe of the suspect.
It may be mentioned that the incident happened on the 22nd anniversary of the terror attack in Parliament in 2001.
Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, the Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, said, “This is certainly a security breach because today we observed the death anniversary of people who sacrificed their lives in 2001.”
“This is a serious breach of security, especially on December 13, the day when Parliament was attacked in 2001,” Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said.
Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Dimple Yadav also raised concerns and said, “All those who come here, be it visitors or reporters, don’t carry tags. So, I think the government should pay attention to this. I think this is a complete security lapse. Anything could have happened inside the Lok Sabha.”
Meanwhile, two other persons, identified as 42-year-old Neelam and 25-year-old Amol Shinde, were detained by local police outside New Delhi’s Transport Bhavan, where they were protesting with yellow smoke.
After the incident, the proceedings of the Lok Sabha resumed at 2 pm. Speaking over security breach in the lower house, Speaker Om Birla said that initial investigation on the incident which took place during zero hour, is being done and necessary instructions have also been given to Delhi Police.
He added that in the preliminary investigation, it has been found that it was just a cloud of smoke and there was no need to worry about the smoke”
Birla said, “It is our collective responsibility to ensure the functioning of the house despite all adversities”.