國際時事政治選舉集中理性討論區（三）

Puigdemont唔知有冇咁好彩啦今次

佢獨立路上的戰友，剛剛先被西班牙法院判監

好灰

Bloomberg 對安倍學園事件的報導:

Scandal Clouds Abe's Chances of Changing Constitution
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-25/scandal-clouds-japan-premier-s-chances-of-changing-constitution

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated his apology for a cronyism scandal as opposition lawmakers warned it would hamper his ambitions of changing the country’s pacifist constitution.

Everything You Need to Know About the School Scandal Haunting Abe
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-12/the-school-scandal-haunting-japan-prime-minister-abe-quicktake

Thousands rally for Moldova to become part of Romania

https://www.politico.eu/article/moldova-romania-thousands-rally-to-become-part/

Tens of thousands rallied in the Moldovan capital of Chișinău on Sunday in support of the tiny former Soviet country becoming part of Romania.

The demonstrators, whose numbers reached 100,000, according to organizers, adopted a statement calling on the Moldovan and Romanian parliaments to receive their representatives and asked Romanian lawmakers to get involved in reuniting the two countries, according to Moldovan media outlet Unimedia.

The rally reflects divisions within the country of 3.5 million people between pro-Western and pro-Russian forces ahead of a parliamentary election expected to take place in November.

Sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, Moldova is located in a sensitive geopolitical spot. It became part of Romania after World War I but was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 and remained part of the USSR until its collapse in 1991. A majority of Moldova’s population speaks Moldovan, a language virtually the same as Romanian.

While the unity movement is supported by Romanian politicians like former President Traian Băsescu, Russia and Moldovan President Igor Dodon see it as an expansionist push by the EU country.

Egypt elections: Voter turnout is the main suspense

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2018/03/egypt-elections-voter-turnout-main-suspense-180325193654966.html

The turnout in the Egyptian presidential elections will be closely watched for an indication of people's trust in the incumbent President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who is set to win after eliminating any real opposition to his rule.

The three-day election, which kicked off on Monday, is largely viewed as a referendum on el-Sisi's performance, as he is running against one of his supporters, Moussa Mustafa Moussa, a little-known politician who had endorsed him for a second term and even organised events to help nominate the former military commander.

El-Sisi has been urging a high voter turnout among the nearly 60 million eligible voters to affirm his legitimacy after all credible opponents dropped out in January, citing intimidation by authorities after his main challenger was jailed.

El-Sisi claims he brought security and stability to the country during his four-year presidency, highlighting the war waged on armed groups and leading the military coup in 2013 that overthrew Egypt's first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi.

However, he has struggled to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group in the Sinai peninsula, which gained strength after Morsi's overthrow, with regular attacks on security forces and deadly church bombings.

Germany expels four Russian diplomats over Skripal poisoning

http://www.dw.com/en/germany-expels-four-russian-diplomats-over-skripal-poisoning/a-43138074

The German Foreign Ministry has said that it will dismiss four Moscow diplomats over the alleged poisoning of a former Russian spy. Sergei Skripal and his daughter remain critically ill in a British hospital.

Germany decided on Monday to expel four Russian diplomats over the poisoning of ex-double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung daily first reported the decision, which was confirmed by the Foreign Ministry on Twitter. France and other western EU countries are expected to follow suit.

US to expel 60 Russian diplomats

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43545565

US President Donald Trump has ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats over the ex-spy poisoning case in the UK.

German's foreign ministry has also confirmed it will expel four Russian diplomats.

Various other European countries are reported to be following suit.

EU leaders agreed last week it was highly likely Russia was behind the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy and his daughter in the UK.

The US will also order the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle, according to Reuters new agency.

North Korea: Kim Jong-un in China for 'unannounced state visit'

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/26/north-korea-kim-jong-un-in-china-for-first-foreign-state-visit

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is believed to be in Beijing on an unannounced trip, in what would be his first foreign state visit since taking power in 2011, according to reports.

Citing three sources familiar with the visit, Bloomberg said on Monday the North Korean leader was in the Chinese capital. Japanese media had previously reported that a “special train” carrying a high-ranking Korean official had arrived in China on Sunday to discuss ties between the two countries. China’s foreign ministry has said it was not aware of the visit.

Local media showed footage of a train passing through the Chinese city of Dandong, which borders North Korea. Kyodo news agency said that hotels near the Sino-Korean friendship bridge between Dandong and Sinuiju in North Korea have barred reservations since Sunday, in an apparent effort to prevent guests from seeing the train.

According to reports, security along Beijing’s Changan Avenue, which runs through the heart of the capital, was tighter than usual on Monday afternoon. Tourists were also cleared out of the nearby Tiananmen Square. Beijing’s railway bureau warned on its blog of multiple train delays.

Japan: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe not involved in land sale cover-up, says official

http://www.dw.com/en/japan-prime-minister-shinzo-abe-not-involved-in-land-sale-cover-up-says-official/a-43146677

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife did not order officials at the Finance Ministry to falsify documents involved in a scandal-laden land sale, a former Ministry official said on Tuesday.

Nobuhisa Sagawa, the ex-head of the Finance Ministry office in charge of the documents, said in a highly anticipated parliamentary testimony his office "never reported [the falsifications] outside the finance bureau … not to mention the prime minister's office." He added that Abe's Cabinet secretary and finance minister were also unaware of the alterations.
But Sagawa, who recently resigned as head of the National Tax Office in response to the scandal, refused to answer questions about how and when the documents were edited, citing an ongoing criminal investigation.

Bloomberg的另一篇報導則，指石破 茂同小泉進次郎比較受市民歡迎
Support for Japan’s Abe Plummets to Record Low in Two Polls

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-19/support-for-japan-s-abe-plummets-to-record-low-in-two-polls

More than 80 percent of respondents to the Asahi poll said Abe bore responsibility for the alteration of the documents. Asked whether he should remain leader after the September party election, 53 percent of respondents said he should be replaced, while 31 percent said he should stay on.

The Kyodo poll found former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba was the most popular candidate to become party leader in September, with 25.4 percent of respondents picking him. Second was Shinjiro Koizumi, son of a popular former prime minister, with Abe in third place.

Public opinion might not be the most biggest factor in selecting a party leader, a decision made by members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

German court extends Carles Puigdemont detention

http://www.dw.com/en/german-court-extends-carles-puigdemont-detention/a-43132591

A court in Neumünster in Schleswig-Holstein on Monday extended the remand of Carles Puigdemont. The Catalan leader was detained by police in the northern German state the day before. It's the first legal step in a possible extradition to Spain.

On Friday, Madrid reactivated a European arrest warrant for Puigdemont for the crime of rebelion, which denotes rebellion against the state. The former regional president of Catalonia faces up to 25 years in prison on sedition charges in Spain in connection with Catalonia's independence movement.

If the court decides that German authorities can keep Puigdemont, his case will be remanded to a higher regional court in the city of Schleswig, where he could face formal extradition proceedings. Germany must then decide whether to hand over the Catalan leader within 60 days — or 10 days if he himself agrees to his extradition. A court spokeswoman said it was unlikely that a decision could be reached on extradition proceedings before Easter.

Legal experts agree that Puigdemont's fate will likely be determined by the degree of convergence between German and Spanish law.

Germany's criminal code includes the crime of high treason. Germany thus has little option but to hand over Puigdemont, if that offense is deemed equivalent to rebelion. It has been speculated that Spanish authorities' belief in the similarities between the two countries' legal systems is likely a reason why the Catalan leader was taken into custody in Germany.

New Slovak government wins confidence vote amid ongoing protests

http://www.dw.com/en/new-slovak-government-wins-confidence-vote-amid-ongoing-protests/a-43146389

A reshuffled Slovak government led by the new prime minister, Peter Pellegrini (above), won a parliamentary vote of confidence on Monday, as hundreds protested outside in the capital, Bratislava.

Eighty-one lawmakers in the 150-seat assembly voted in favor of the new cabinet, which keeps most of the same people from the previous administration of Robert Fico.

President Andrej Kiska swore in a new cabinet last Thursday, made up of the same three parties from Fico's government: the ethnic Hungarian centrist Most-Hid party and center-right Slovak National Party.

Some believe Fico will continue to operate from behind the scenes as he remains chairman of Smer-SD.

Serb party quits the Kosovo government

http://www.dw.com/en/serb-party-quits-the-kosovo-government/a-43155894

Kosovo Serb leader Goran Rakic made the announcement Tuesday following a meeting with Serbian President Aleksander Vucic in Belgrade.

"The Serb List will withdraw from the government and Kosovar institutions," Rakic told journalists at a press conference.

The decision comes a day after heavily armed Kosovar police detained senior Serb politician Marko Djuric in Mitrovica, a volatile, mostly Serb city in northern Kosovo. Djuric, who is also Belgrade's chief negotiator for Kosovo, had ignored a Kosovo entry ban and was deported shortly after his arrest. The events have sent tensions between Pristina and Belgrade soaring.

The Serb List has four ministers in the current government in Pristina, which was formed following snap elections in 2017. It also has 10 deputies in the Kosovar Parliament. Without the Serbs in the coalition, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo has no majority in parliament. It's now unclear whether he will seek new allies or be forced into another election.

Nato expels seven staff from Russian mission over Skripal poisoning

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/27/russia-to-respond-harshly-to-us-expulsion-of-diplomats

Nato has announced it is cutting the size of its Russian mission by a third, removing accreditation from seven Russian staff and rejecting three other pending applications.

The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said the permanent size of the Russian mission would be cut from 30 to 20 people, adding the announcement was “a clear and very strong message that that there was a cost to Russia’s reckless actions” in poisoning the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury earlier this month.

He claimed Russia had underestimated Nato’s resolve and said the announcements would reduce Russia’s capability to do intelligence work across Nato.

The move came after more than 20 western allies ordered the expulsion of dozens of Russian diplomats in response to the nerve agent attack in the UK, in a show of solidarity that represents the biggest concerted blow to Russian intelligence networks in the west since the cold war.

Only a handful of EU countries including Austria, Portugal, Greece and Malta, have declined to take any steps. Many countries have confined themselves to a tokenistic expulsion of a single diplomat, a move designed to register support for the UK, as opposed to disruption of the Russian state.

White House investigating $500m loans to Kushner family firm – ethics chief

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/27/white-house-kushner-family-real-estate-loans

White House officials have been looking into whether $500m in loans that went to Jared Kushner’s family real estate company may have spurred ethics or criminal law violations, according to the head of the federal government’s ethics agency.

David Apol, acting director of the Office of Government Ethics, said in a letter sent late last week to representative Raja Krishnamoorthi that the White House counsel’s office told him officials were investigating the loans to Kushner Companies and whether “additional procedures are necessary to avoid violations in the future”.

Ethiopia's ruling party chooses Abiy Ahmed to lead the party

http://www.dw.com/en/ethiopias-ruling-party-chooses-abiy-ahmed-to-lead-the-party/a-43161198

Abiy Ahmed was chosen by Ethiopia's ruling coalition on Tuesday to lead the party, meaning he will likely be become the country's new prime minister.

He will take control of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), filling the gap left when Hailemariam Desalegn announced his resignation last month.

Abiy will be the first person from the Oromo ethnic group — the country's largest — to lead the party in its 27-year-history. His appointment comes after two years of sporadic and deadly protests against the government, focusing initially on land rights before expanding to political and human rights issues.

Data row: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before MPs

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43554135

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg's decision not to appear before MPs is "astonishing", said the committee chairman who invited him to attend.

Mr Zuckerberg has apologised for a "breach of trust", but said he will not appear in front of the inquiry.

He will instead send one of his senior executives, Facebook's chief product officer Chris Cox, who will give evidence to MPs in the first week after the Easter parliamentary break.

Mark Zuckerberg agrees to testify before Congress over data scandal

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/27/mark-zuckerberg-testify-congress-cambridge-analytica-data-scandal

Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, has agreed to testify before the United States Congress in the wake of a that has sent the company’s share price tumbling and prompted numerous investigations and lawsuits.

Zuckerberg has accepted an invitation to testify before the House energy and commerce committee, according to an aide familiar with the discussions. A date has not yet been set, and the spokesperson for the House committee declined to confirm reports that the hearing was scheduled for 12 April.

China and N Korea confirm Kim Jong-un visit

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43564529

After days of speculation, it has been confirmed that North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un has visited China.

The visit, confirmed by China and North Korea, was Mr Kim's first known foreign trip since taking office in 2011.

Mr Kim held "successful talks" with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

China is North Korea's main economic ally and it was thought highly likely it would consult Beijing before planned summits with South Korea and the US.

During the visit, Mr Kim assured his Chinese counterpart he was committed to giving up his nuclear weapons, China's Xinhua news agency reported, but with conditions.

China says North Korea pledges denuclearization during friendly visit

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-china/china-says-north-korea-pledges-denuclearization-during-friendly-visit-idUSKBN1H305W

BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to denuclearize and meet U.S. officials, China said on Wednesday after an historic meeting with President Xi Jinping, who promised China would uphold its friendship with its isolated neighbor.

After two days of speculation, China and North Korea both confirmed that Kim had visited Beijing and met Xi during what China’s Foreign Ministry called an unofficial visit to China from Sunday to Wednesday.

已經比隻支那雞搞到迷迷糊糊啦

德國正宗拿屎上身
一開始放走佢咪算

German lawyer says Berlin cannot extradite former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont

http://www.dw.com/en/german-lawyer-says-berlin-cannot-extradite-former-catalan-leader-carles-puigdemont/a-43175603

A lawyer for the embattled ex-president of Catalonia called on German officials on Wednesday to publically confirm that they will not extradite Carles Puigdemont to Spain. Attorney Wolfgang Schomburg told the Süddeutsche Zeitung daily that Germany must act "without delay."

Otherwise, Schomburg said, Berlin risks "letting Spanish conflicts of interest be carried out on German soil." The lawyer also pointed out that, in order to participate in Spain's "request for judicial assistance," it would have to be specifically approved by Justice Minister Katarina Barley.

And Schomburg isn't just any defense lawyer. He is a one-time German Supreme Court justice, and the first German elected by the UN as a judge for the International Criminal Court, serving on the tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

Scores killed in Venezuela jail blaze

http://www.dw.com/en/scores-killed-in-venezuela-jail-blaze/a-43175935

At least 68 people were killed in rioting and a fire at a police detention center in the city of Valencia late on Wednesday, Venezuela's top prosecutor said.

"In light of the terrible events that took place in the Carabobo state police headquarters, where 68 people died in a presumed fire, we have appointed four prosecutors... to clarify these dramatic events," Tarek William Saab wrote on Twitter.

Relatives of some of the detainees said that the prisoners were kept in squalid and unsafe conditions. Venezuelan prisons are known for being overcrowded, filled with drugs and weapons.

Some of these relatives clashed with police after they stormed to the scene, demanding to know if their loved ones were still alive. National guard troops carrying rifles and wearing bullet-proof vests were deployed to the scene, keeping the families away from the building.

Ecuador cuts off Julian Assange's internet access at London embassy

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/mar/28/julian-assange-internet-connection-ecuador-embassy-cut-off-wikileaks

Ecuador has cut Julian Assange’s communications with the outside world from its London embassy, where the founder of the whistleblowing WikiLeaks website has been living for nearly six years.

The Ecuadorian government said in statement that it had acted because Assange had breached “a written commitment made to the government at the end of 2017 not to issue messages that might interfere with other states”.

It said Assange’s recent behaviour on social media “put at risk the good relations [Ecuador] maintains with the United Kingdom, with the other states of the European Union, and with other nations”.

The move came after Assange tweeted on Monday challenging Britain’s accusation that Russia was responsible for the nerve agent poisoning of a Russian former double agent and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury earlier this month.

Turnout low as Egyptians wrap up presidential vote

http://www.dw.com/en/turnout-low-as-egyptians-wrap-up-presidential-vote/a-43175912

Egyptians wrapped up a third and final day of voting on Wednesday in a presidential election that is all but guaranteed to hand a second term to Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

After warning people who do not vote they would be fined 500 pounds ($30), the election commission extended voting by an hour. Voters had trickled into polling stations as authorities encouraged them to show up in high numbers.

There was no official figure for the turnout after polling stations closed and full results are not expected before April 2. However, partial estimates were expected to be released shortly by local media.

Thera were some 60 million people in Egypt who were registered to vote on March 26, 27, and 28.

In the last election in 2014, about 37 percent of voters participated in the two-day election. The low turnout prompted authorities to add a third day to obtain a final participation rate of 47.5 percent.

VA Secretary Shulkin out after months of struggle

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/28/trump-says-hell-nominate-white-house-doctor-ronny-jackson-to-be-va-secretary-490886

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he was ousting embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and nominating presidential physician Dr. Ronny Jackson to replace him in the latest administration shake-up.

Shulkin's exit was expected, though the timing was not known, after he antagonized the White House with a scandal over a taxpayer-financed trip to Europe last summer and engaged in open warfare with conservatives in his agency.

Trump had been considering a few replacements, including Robert Wilkie, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, who will serve as acting secretary, and Fox News host Pete Hegseth. But Trump had talked about Jackson for some time, and Shulkin had recommended Jackson for an under-secretary post at VA in the fall and received a significant level of vetting then, according to the official.

The choice of Jackson, a rear admiral known in the White House as Dr. Ronny, came as more of a surprise. Jackson also served as White House physician under the two presidents prior to Trump and was known publicly as the doctor who gave Trump a clean bill of health and said he performed “well” on a cognitive screening exam earlier this year.

Supreme Court finds solution elusive in pivotal electoral map case

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-gerrymandering/supreme-court-finds-solution-elusive-in-pivotal-electoral-map-case-idUSKBN1H40JE

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday appeared conflicted over what to do — if anything — to rein in politicians who draw state electoral maps with the aim of entrenching their party in power in a closely watched case from Maryland over the practice known as partisan gerrymandering.

The nine justices heard an hour-long argument in a challenge by Republican voters to a U.S. House of Representatives district in Maryland that was reconfigured by Democratic state legislators in a way that helped the Democrats defeat an incumbent Republican congressman.

There appeared little dispute among the justices that the Maryland district’s lines were drawn with partisan intent.

But based on questions they asked, the justices seemed no closer to answering the major question in this case and a similar one involving Wisconsin: whether courts should be able to intervene to curb the manipulation of electoral district boundaries purely to favor one party over another.

The rulings in the two cases, due by the end of June, could alter the U.S. political landscape, either by imposing limits on partisan gerrymandering or by allowing it even in its most extreme forms.

Japan offers North Korea summit, Pyongyang discussing meetings with Japan: Asahi

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-japan/japan-offers-north-korea-summit-pyongyang-discussing-meetings-with-japan-asahi-idUSKBN1H43E9

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan has sounded out the North Korean government about a bilateral summit, and Pyongyang has discussed the possibility of a leaders’ meeting with Japan, Japan’s Asahi newspaper said on Thursday.

The government of Kim Jong Un has informed leaders of North Korea’s ruling Korean Workers Party of the possibility of a summit with Japan, the newspaper said, citing an unidentified North Korean source and briefing papers.

“The Japanese government has expressed a wish to host a leaders meeting, via the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan,” or Chongryon, Pyongyang’s de facto embassy in Japan, the Asahi quoted the briefing papers as saying.

The Japanese government said it had been in touch with the North but declined to offer specific comment on the report.

The Asahi quoted another unidentified source as saying North Korea’s “dialogue partner on security issues is America” but that the country “can only hope for large-scale financial assistance from Japan”.