Wednesday, 4 May 2016

Australia general election slated for July 2

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has confirmed he will call an election within the next week. The ruling Liberal-National coalition has lost its lead against Labor in the latest polls, but hopes to cling to power. 
Australia's rightist government unveiled a budget on Tuesday, even as the premier announced he'll use a political deadlock over industrial relations to dissolve parliament and call fresh elections.
"You can expect there to be an election on the second of July," Turnbull said in an interview on Australia Broadcasting Corp radio, adding that he would call the poll "between now and the 11th of May."
Labor catching up?
The Liberal-National coalition, which returned to power in 2013, has lost much of its lead against the opposition Labor party in the latest polls, with the two sides now running neck-and-neck.
But Turnbull , who seized his party's top spot eight months ago, said he expected to win. That's despite a pair of scandal-driven resignations within his cabinet.
"I am quietly confident that the Australian people will give us another term in government," he told Channel 9 TV.
The government handed down its budget the same day that the Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates to a record low of 1.75 percent, seeking to restrain a rising currency and stem deflation.
Stalemate over construction industry watchdog
The dissolution will be triggered by a rarely invoked parliamentary procedure. The Senate blocked the government's bill aimed at re-establishing the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) that was scrapped by the former Labor government.
The government claims there has been a spike in "unlawful industrial action” since the ABCC was repealed. But critics say the ABCC is used for union-busting.
Now that the bill has been rejected twice, Turnbull is empowered to dissolve parliament and call new elections. The last time Australia's elections were invoked by double dissolution was in 1987.
jar/rc

Brazil proscecutor calls for obstruction of justice probe into President Rousseff

Reports said Brazil's state attorney wants President Rousseff questioned for allegedly trying to stall a corruption investigation. She insisted the scandal would not affect the Olympics as she set off the torch relay. 
Local media reported late on Tuesday that Brazil's top prosecutor filed a request to investigate President Dilma Rousseff for possible obstruction of justice. The case would be the first time Rousseff has been directly implicated in the sprawling corruption scandal surrounding state-owned oil giant Petrobras.
This could well spell the political downfall of the president, who despite formerly sitting as chairwoman of the board, has managed thus far to avoid any graft charges related to Petrobras. Rousseff has consistently denied any wrongdoing, despite the fact that much of the billion-dollar kickback scheme happened during her tenure at Petrobras.
Some of Brazil's biggest construction executives have already been jailed and convicted for using Petrobras funds for bribes. Around 50 politicians are currently being investigated.
The president is also facing a separate impeachment process, on charges of violating budget regulations.
Rousseff: Scandal won't taint Olympics
Rousseff, however, did her best to remain upbeat as she greeted the Olympic flame on Tuesday ahead of this summer's games in Rio de Janeiro. She said that the scandal would not mar the event.
"We are experiencing political instability. We are going through a very difficult period, truly critical in the country's history and in the history of democracy," Rousseff said in the capital Brasilia, where the traditional Olympic torch relay began.
"I am certain that a country whose people know how to fight for their rights and to protect their democracy is a country where the Olympics will have great success in the coming months," she said, adding that the games would put the country's beauty on display, rather than its problems.
The torch, which arrived from the Greek site of Olympia by way of Switzerland, will now be carried by 12,000 people through 329 towns and cities before ending its journey in Rio's Maracana stadium on August 5. This will be the first Olympic Games hosted by a South American city.
es/msh (AFP, Reuters)


Obama visits Flint as questions linger on EPA role in water crisis

U.N. peace talks on Yemen resume after three-day suspension: delegates

U.N.-backed peace talks to end Yemen's civil war resumed on Wednesday after they were suspended by the Yemeni government for three days in protest at a Houthi assault on a military base near the capital Sanaa.
Buttressed by a truce which had been largely holding since April 10, the talks in Kuwait had been inching ahead before their pause and the Houthis said Saudi Arabia had on Saturday released 40 Yemeni prisoners.
U.N. special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed tweeted a picture of delegates representing the main warring sides sitting around a U-shaped table and said talks on Wednesday would focus on cementing the shakey ceasefire.
The Iran-allied Houthis and Yemen's Saudi-backed exiled government are trying to broker a peace via talks in Kuwait and ease a humanitarian crisis in the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country, where the conflict has drawn in regional powers and killed at least 6,000 people.
A civil war in Yemen escalated when an armed push by the Houthis cast the government into exile on March 26 last year.
Fearing the Shi'ite Muslim group was a proxy for its arch-nemesis Iran, Saudi Arabia mustered an alliance of mostly Gulf Arab countries to push the group back but still appears far from beating the Houthis out of Sanaa.
Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged participants in the talks to allow international investigations of alleged war crimes by all sides "which have not been investigated nor have resulted in any redress for victims of unlawful attacks".
The group cited air strikes on civilian areas by the Saudi-led coalition backing the government and "indiscriminate" shelling and use of landmines by the Houthis.
"The parties around the negotiating table have an obligation to ensure that the violations against civilians are properly investigated and appropriately punished," HRW deputy Middle East director said in a statement.
(Reporting By Mohammed Ghobari; Writing By Maha El Dahan and Noah Browning; Editing by Alison Williams)

French presidential election set for April 23 and May 7, 2017

The two rounds of France's 2017 presidential elections will take place on April 23 and May 7, the government announced on Wednesday.
Opinion polls show former prime minister Alain Juppe from the center-right Les Republicains party is the front-runner.
Far-right party leader Marine Le Pen is seen making it to the run-off between the top two candidates after the first round, but then losing.
Parliamentary elections will take place right after, on June 11 and June 18.
(Reporting by Ingrid Melander and Jean-Baptiste Vey; Editing by Andrew Callus)

Islamic State seeks news blackout in Mosul as Iraqi army nears

Apple loses China trademark case for 'iPhone' on leather goods

Apple Inc has lost a battle for the use of the "iPhone" trademark on leather goods in China after a Beijing court ruled against the world's biggest technology company in favor of a local firm, state media reported.
The Beijing Municipal High People's Court said Xintong Tiandi can continue to use the phrase "iPhone" on its leather goods, according to the Legal Daily, the official newspaper of China's Justice Ministry.
Apple declined to comment.
The U.S. tech supremo has repeatedly found itself tangled in intellectual property disputes in China where the sheer number of companies means trademarks are often taken by little-known players.
Some enterprising firms are quick to snap up trademarks that are known overseas but not registered locally, in the hope of a pay-off down the line.
In 2002, Apple applied for the "iPhone" trademark for computer hardware and software in China, but that was only approved in 2013.
Xintong Tiandi created its trademark for leather goods in 2007, the first year Apple's iPhone went on sale. The U.S. firm has been disputing the Chinese firm's intellectual property rights since 2012.
The Beijing court dismissed Apple's appeal, saying the U.S. firm could not prove the "iPhone" brand was well-known in China before 2009, when it first started selling the handsets on the mainland.
In 2012, Apple paid $60 million to end a protracted legal dispute over the iPad trademark in China, which had hampered some sales and delayed the introduction of a new iPad in the country.
Apple has been facing tougher times in Greater China - its second-largest market.
Last week, billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn said he had sold his entire stake in the firm. He cited risks to the stock because of the economic slowdown in the People's Republic and worries about how the country could become more prohibitive in doing business.
(Reporting by Paul Carsten; Additional reporting by Yimou Lee in Hong Kong and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Ryan Woo)