Modern Sinbad: Euronews

Showing posts with label Euronews. Show all posts

Tuesday, 5 April 2016

Brazil: Lula rallies support for Dilma as impeachment looms

Brazil’s former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been rallying support for his beleaguered political protégé and successor Dilma Rousseff as she faces calls for her impeachment.

Rousseff is accused of irregularities in the government budget designed to favour her reelection in 2014.

But Lula and the ruling left-wing Workers Party, which he founded, say impeachment would amount to a coup.

Accusing the opposition of wanting to overthrow the government, he told a rally near Sao Paulo on Monday: “They have found the most spurious way because even if impeachment is in the constitution, it can only occur if someone is responsible for a crime and this is not the case for Dilma.”

Lula is himself under investigation in a separate corruption case involving the state-run oil firm, Petrobras.

He, like Rousseff, denies any wrongdoing.

Brazil’s first female president however is fighting for her political life. Her main coalition partner, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), has chosen to desert her and polls show that more than two-thirds of Brazilians support her impeachment.

French students protest over labour reforms

Students in France are staging their latest day of protest on Tuesday against labour reforms they say will put them in a precarious position once they enter the world of work.

For over a month tensions have been growing over the pro-business measures proposed by the Socialist government to loosen protective French employment legislation.

“The idea is to rise up because we need hope, we need to get people interested in politics again because everyone is disappointed by what is going on in France right now,” said demonstrator Sophie Tissier in Paris.

“The aim is really for the revolt to start from here and to make a big impression on the government. The aim is to see fear not on our side but theirs,” added fellow protester Guillaume.

‘Here’ is the Place de la Republique in Paris, occupied for five consecutive nights by opponents of the reforms.
Calls are now growing for similar sit-ins to be staged elsewhere in the country.

Tuesday’s mobilisation is another test of strength for President Francois Hollande, plagued by low popularity and a jobless rate stuck stubbornly above 10 percent, little more than a year before a presidential election.

Protests last Thursday led to scores of arrests as youths and police clashed in Paris, Lyon and Nantes.

Thursday, 6 December 2012

Deaths reported amid Cairo violence

05/12 19:58 CET

Supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi have been brawling outside the presidential palace in Cairo.
Petrol bombs were thrown along with stones and other objects and there were reports of shots fired.
Local TV channels reported two deaths and around a dozen serious injuries.
The president’s backers tore down the tents of those who had organised a sit-in against Mursi’s expanded powers and draft constitution.
Despite growing protests Egypt’s Vice President Mahmoud Mekki insists a referendum on the constitution will go ahead as planned in just over a weeks time.
Facing the gravest crisis of his six-month tenure, Mohammed Mursi claims he is acting to prevent the courts, still full of appointees from the Hosni Mubarak era, from derailing Egypt’s political transition.
He says he will give up his new powers once the new constitution is ratified.
More about: Cairo, Clashes and riots, Egypt, Mohamed Mursi

Wednesday, 5 December 2012

Cairo gripped by anti-Mursi protests

Cairo gripped by anti-Mursi protests | euronews, world news

Violence has erupted in Egyptian capital Cairo as those opposed to President Mursi’s sweeping new powers marched on the presidential palace.
The demonstration is being called a “last warning.”
Sources within the official residence said Mursi had left the building.
The Islamist leader unleashed a storm of protest with his November 22 decree, which placed the office of president above the law.
One man taking part in the demo said: “The Muslim Brotherhood is now corrupt. They want to impose their laws on the Egyptian people.”
As the crowds voiced their anger, independent and opposition newspapers stopped their presses in protest against the lack of journalistic freedom in the country’s draft constitution.
Divisions in Egypt have only widened since a mass uprising ousted Hosni Mubarak on February 11, 2011.
More about: Clashes and riots, Egypt, Mohamed Mursi, Protests in Egypt

Tuesday, 15 February 2011

New Egypt – old peace deal

15/02 18:09 CET

Diplomacy

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As the visible vestiges of Hosni Mubarak’s rule were removed from Egypt’s cabinet building, there lingered a worry in the Middle East that stability in the region might also be heading out of the door.

One of the principal concerns was the 1979 peace agreement with Israel.

The High Military Council that had taken the reins made a formal declaration on th 13th of February saying: “The Egyptian republic is committed to the regional and international agreements.”

It was a reassuring announcement aimed particularly at Egypt’s neighbours in Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasted no time in responding.

“The Israeli government welcomes the announcement by Egypt’s military (saying) that Egypt will continue to respect its peace treaty with Israel,” Netanyahu said.

All through the 18 days of protests in Egypt, the Israelis held their collective breath, fearful that the departure of Mubarak would see the end of a reliable partner on their southern border.

Some in Israel still see the possibility of strained relations in the future.

Efraim Inbar the director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies said: “I don’t think that democracy in Egypt, if the elections are won by the Islamic Brothers, will bring about peace and stability.”

In Cairo, at the headquarters of the Arab League, euronews asked the Secretary General, Amr Moussa about those fears. Moussa, himself an Egyptian, said the army declaration made it clear the peace accord would be maintained, and added that the presence of the Muslim Brotherhood should not be a cause for alarm.

“In reality, the fears expressed are scaremongering. As you clearly saw in all of the demonstrations and big gatherings over the past weeks, the Muslim Brotherhood were a part of it, but not all of it,” he said. “They will not end up in leading positions. They were not leading it, they were not behind it, but they were one element among many others.”

Yesterday the Muslim Brotherhood announced it would form a political party as soon as conditions allow. Formed in the 1920s it was banned but tolerated under Mubarak. And its roots in the conservative and predominantly Muslim Egyptian society run deep.