【一蓮托生】國際時事政治選舉集中理性討論區（二）

[Tunisia] Anti-austerity protests in Tunisia turn deadly

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/01/anti-austerity-protests-tunisia-turn-deadly-180109070431217.html

A 55-year-old man has died after a protest over government austerity measures in Tunisia, the country's state news agency Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) has reported. Five others were injured during the demonstration, which took place in Tebourba, 40km west of the capital Tunis, according to TAP.

The Tunisian Ministry of Interior confirmed in a statement on Monday evening that a 55-year-old man had died in a local hospital after being admitted with symptoms of dizziness.

The budget, which took effect on January 1, hiked fuel prices and introduced new tax measures related to the purchase of housing. Successive governments, however, have struggled to enact fiscal reforms that have been delayed by political infighting and government wariness of social tensions over jobs and economic conditions that helped spark the 2011 uprising.

[US-Trump]

Trump’s border wall becomes flashpoint in shutdown fight
[url]http://thehill.com/homenews/house/368013-trumps-border-wall-becomes-flashpoint-in-shutdown-fight
[/url]

President Trump’s core campaign promise to build a wall on the Mexican border is now the biggest sticking point in complicated negotiations with Congress to prevent a government shutdown. Both sides are digging in ahead of a White House meeting on Tuesday aimed at narrowing the differences on immigration between the president and lawmakers of both parties.

An agreement reached in May to fund the government through last September gave the administration $1.5 billion for border security. But Trump was furious that he didn’t get the new wall funding he’d demanded, suggesting afterwards that he’d risk “a good shutdown” to secure that victory in the future.

Trump officials end immigration protection for 260K Salvadorans

http://thehill.com/latino/367892-report-trump-to-end-immigration-protection-for-200000-salvadorans

The Trump administration on Monday said it would end the protected status that allows 262,500 immigrants from El Salvador to stay in the country, forcing those people to either leave the country or find another means of legally staying in the United States. The dramatic announcement is the fourth such change to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) that has been made by the Trump administration, which has taken a tough line on immigration issues.

The Salvadorans affected by the order have been in the United States since at least 2001, when TPS status was granted after two devastating earthquakes ravaged the country. The decision also allowed hundreds of thousands of Salvadoran civil war refugees who were in the United States legally or illegally to remain and work stateside.

[Iran Protest] Iran protests: deaths in custody spark human rights concerns

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/09/iran-protests-deaths-custody-human-rights

Human rights activists in Iran have raised concerns about mass arrests during the country’s largest protests in nearly a decade after at least three demonstrators died in a notorious Tehran jail.

Two members of the Iranian parliament close to the reformist camp confirmed on Monday that one detainee, Sina Ghanbari, had died in Evin prison.

[US] House Foreign Affairs chairman to retire

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/367992-house-foreign-affairs-chairman-to-retire

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) announced Monday he will retire at the end of the year.

Royce is now the eighth House panel chairman to opt against seeking reelection in 2018.

He would have potentially faced a tough path to reelection given that his district has become more competitive. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton won it by about 9 points in 2016 even as Royce, who has served in the House since 1993, won reelection by 14 points.

[EU-Brexit] EU chief calls for bigger budget despite Brexit loss

http://www.euronews.com/2018/01/08/eu-chief-calls-for-bigger-budget-despite-brexit-loss

The next long-term EU budget has to be bigger, despite the loss of cash from Brexit Britain. That from the head of the European Commission at a finance conference in Brussels.

Jean-Claude Juncker said joint polices in areas such as defence, security, migration and agriculture will be money-hungry. The EU’s budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said the gap from Brexit would be 12 to 13 billion euros per year.

[UK] May's reshuffle continues

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2018/jan/09/reshuffle-government-tory-cabinet-theresa-may-not-quite-says-new-tory-chair-when-asked-about-party-being-in-a-mess-politics-live

Mark Garnier sacked as international trade minister

According to the BBC, Philip Dunne, a health minister, Robert Goodwill, an education minister, and John Hayes, a transport minister, are also leaving the government.

[Poland] BREAKING: Poland appoints new ministers in sweeping Cabinet reshuffle

[url]http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/343457,BREAKING-Poland-appoints-new-ministers-in-sweeping-Cabinet-reshuffle
[/url]
Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday swore in new foreign, defence, interior, health and environment ministers following a sweeping Cabinet reshuffle.

越搞越大鑊到底搞咩傢伙

Steve Bannon leaves Breitbart News

Steve Bannon leaves Breitbart News amid Trump row

[url]http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42628201
[/url]
Steve Bannon, Donald Trump's ex-chief strategist, has stepped down from the right-wing Breitbart News organisation where he built his reputation.

The move comes amid a furore over remarks he reportedly made about President Donald Trump's son.

He described a meeting Donald Trump Jr held in New York with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 presidential election campaign as "treasonous".

Stephen K. Bannon Steps Down from Breitbart News Network

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/01/09/stephen-k-bannon-steps-breitbart-news-network/

Stephen K. Bannon has stepped down from Breitbart News Network, where he served as Executive Chairman since 2012.

Bannon and Breitbart will work together on a smooth and orderly transition.

Bannon said, “I’m proud of what the Breitbart team has accomplished in so short a period of time in building out a world-class news platform.”

According to Breitbart CEO Larry Solov, “Steve is a valued part of our legacy, and we will always be grateful for his contributions, and what he has helped us to accomplish.”

[US] Thirteen dead amid California heavy rains and mudslides

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42624408

At least 13 people are dead amid "waist-deep" mudslides in Southern California, where heavy rains triggered flooding, say officials.

Some 163 people have been taken to hospital. Twenty had "storm-related injuries" and four were critically hurt.

A group of up to 300 people are reportedly trapped in Romero Canyon, east of Santa Barbara.

Police said the scene "looked like a World War One battlefield".

Judge blocks Trump wind-down of Dreamers program

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/09/trump-dreamers-daca-judge-333143?cmpid=sf

A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump's effort to shut-down the Obama-era program that provides quasi-legal status and work permits to foreigners who entered the U.S. illegally as children.

In a ruling Tuesday evening, San Francisco-based U.S. District Court judge William Alsup ordered the administration to resume accepting renewal applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, better known as DACA.

Alsup said Attorney General Jeff Sessions' conclusion that the program was illegal appeared to be "based on a flawed legal premise."

Mahathir Mohamad, 92, to lead Malaysia opposition bid for election victory

[url]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/08/mahathir-mohamad-92-to-lead-malaysia-opposition-bid-for-election-victory
[/url]
Malaysia’s opposition alliance has named former premier Mahathir Mohamad as its prime ministerial candidate for this year’s general election, although the 92-year-old authoritarian faces an uphill task.

With the country’s most popular opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, in jail, Mahathir is seen as the biggest threat for premier Najib Razak, who must call an election by August but is engulfed in a corruption scandal.

But an independent survey showed the opposition would have difficulty beating Najib, due to divisions within its own camp and unfavourable electoral boundary changes.

[Greece] Greece limits Islamic Sharia law courts for Muslim minority

http://www.dw.com/en/greece-limits-islamic-sharia-law-courts-for-muslim-minority/a-42088793

The Greek parliament has changed a century-old law that gave Islamic courts priority over family law matters among the Muslim minority in Western Thrace. Greece is the only EU country with Islamic religious courts.

Greek lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelming backed legislation to limit the purview of Islamic religious courts over the nearly 120,000-Muslim minority in the region of Western Thrace.

Islamic religious courts will only be able to rule in family law matters such as divorce, child custody and inheritance if all parties agree, under the new law supported by major parties. Regular Greek law will apply in cases where all parties do not agree to a religious court settling a dispute.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called the vote an "historic step" that "extended equality before the law to all Greeks" while respecting the "special characteristics" of Greece's Muslim minority.

[UK] Julian Assange: Ecuador looks to end WikiLeaks founder impasse

http://www.dw.com/en/julian-assange-ecuador-looks-to-end-wikileaks-founder-impasse/a-42087976

Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said on Tuesday that her country is searching for a "third country or a personality" to mediate a solution to the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

In June 2012, Assange fled to the Ecuadorian embassy to avoid an extradition warrant over allegations of sexual misconduct and has remained there ever since.

Although Swedish authorities have since dropped their extradition warrant, British officials have signaled their intent on arresting him if he leaves Ecuador's diplomatic compound in London.

[US] US to loosen nuclear weapons constraints and develop more 'usable' warheads

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/09/us-to-loosen-nuclear-weapons-policy-and-develop-more-usable-warheads

The Trump administration plans to loosen constraints on the use of nuclear weapons and develop a new low-yield nuclear warhead for US Trident missiles, according to a former official who has seen the most recent draft of a policy review.

Jon Wolfsthal, who was special assistant to Barack Obama on arms control and nonproliferation, said the new nuclear posture review prepared by the Pentagon, envisages a modified version of the Trident D5 submarine-launched missiles with only part of its normal warhead, with the intention of deterring Russia from using tactical warheads in a conflict in Eastern Europe. The new nuclear policy is significantly more hawkish that the posture adopted by the Obama administration, which sought to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in US defence.

The development of a low-yield warhead for a sea-launched ballistic missile is based on the belief that in any conflict with Russia on Nato’s eastern flank, the Russians would use a tactical nuclear weapon early on, to compensate for their relative weakness in conventional arms. The Russians, the argument goes, would count on US reluctance to use the massive warheads on its existing weapons, leading Washington to back down.

[Israel] Netanyahu son bragged about gas deal outside strip club, tape reveals

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/08/netanyahu-son-bragged-about-gas-deal-outside-strip-club-tape-reveals

Lawyers for Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanayhu, tried to stop the broadcast of an embarrassing audiotape in which Netanyahu’s son Yair suggested his father helped push through a $20bn deal to the benefit of a gas tycoon.

The recording of the conversation, which took place outside a strip club, is the latest revelation to cast light on the Netanyahu family’s relationships with wealthy tycoons, which have so far spawned two corruption investigations into the prime minister’s activities.

According to the reports, Yair and friends, with his government-provided security guard and driver in tow, were going from one strip club to another. He and Maimon can apparently be heard arguing about 400 shekels ($116) as they leave the club, with Yair reportedly telling his companion: “Bro, you got to spot me. My dad made an awesome deal for your dad, bro, he fought, fought in the Knesset for this, bro.” He continues: “Bro, my dad now arranged for you a $20bn deal and you can’t spot me 400 shekels?”

[Libya ] Libya may not be ready for democracy, says military strongman

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/10/libya-may-not-be-ready-for-democracy-says-military-strongman

The Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar has warned that the country may not be ready for democracy even though the UN is planning to hold elections this year.

Haftar, a former CIA asset who controls nearly half of Libya from his base in the east of the country, said: “The upcoming elections in the country must bring a solution to the current bloodshed, but if the situation and the chaos continue after the elections, then we will say ‘enough is enough’ and take action.”

The UN’s plan to hold elections this year has been advanced by Ghassan Salama, the UN special envoy to Libya, and is part of an effort to break a three-year deadlock that has left the oil rich country divided and rudderless. But the proposal has unnerved some observers who fear that the run-up to the elections will only lead to greater political instability and violence. Haftar’s apparent conditional support for democracy will only add to those fears.

[Spain-Catanlonia] Catalan parties to seek return of Puigdemont as president

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/10/catalan-parties-to-seek-return-of-puigdemont-as-president

Catalonia’s two largest pro-independence parties have cut a deal that could see Carles Puigdemont re-elected as the region’s president, three months after he fled to Belgium following the Spanish government’s decision to sack him over his role in staging an illegal referendum and unilaterally declaring independence.

On Tuesday night Puigdemont’s party, Together for Catalonia, reached an agreement with its former coalition partner, the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), to give pro-independence parties a majority on the parliamentary board when the regional assembly sits next week for first time since the secessionist bloc retained its majority in last December’s elections.

[US-S.Korea] Trump deserves credit for Korea talks, says President Moon

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42636101

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in says his US counterpart, Donald Trump, "deserves big credit" for talks between South and North Korea.

The talks, held on Tuesday, were the first in two years and led to the announcement that North Korea would send a delegation to the Olympics in Pyeongchang later this year.

Mr Moon said he wanted to show Mr Trump his gratitude. Mr Moon told reporters on Wednesday: "I think President Trump deserves big credit for bringing about the inter-Korean talks. "It could be a resulting work of the US-led sanctions and pressure," he said.

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真心覺得南韓deserve收皮

好似完全控制唔到喎

控制晒示威，已經冇示威report，伊朗呢一種威權國家捉咗示威者都唔會點善待佢地，人地示威的成本真係好高

oh sad
真係用條命去搏

[North Africa] Tunisia rocked by protests over price rises

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/10/tunisia-rocked-second-night-protests-over-price-rises-austerity-measures

One person has died and more than 200 people have been arrested in two nights of widespread and violent protests across Tunisia, driven by anger over steep price rises resulting from austerity measures. The protests broke out after activists and politicians denounced increases in VAT and the introduction of social contributions at the start of the year as a tough new budget was implemented.

Clashes erupted in more than 20 towns and cities late on Tuesday, including the southern city of Gafsa and in Sidi Bouzid, the cradle of the protests that led to the ousting of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011 and sparked the regional Arab spring uprisings.

Police and army forces were deployed in several cities, including Tebourba, 20 miles (30km) west of the capital, Tunis, where hundreds of young people took to the streets after the funeral of a 45-year-old man who died in the unrest on Monday night. Police have insisted they did not kill the man, who they say had a chronic respiratory condition. The results of an autopsy have not been made public.

[Latin America] Colombia withdraws negotiators after ELN attacks

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/01/colombia-withdraws-negotiators-eln-attacks-180110183956528.html

Colombia has withdrawn negotiators from Ecuador, bringing an abrupt end to year-long peace talks between the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN). The move follows a series of attacks on government targets on Wednesday just hours after a ceasefire between the Colombian military and ELN expired.

The Colombian military accused the armed group of responsibility for four different attacks that wounded at least two marines and disrupted an important oil pipeline in the east of the country. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos condemned the "inexplicable" violence at a press conference on Wednesday and restated his commitment to the peace process.