Equatorial Guinea President Set for Sixth Term in Office
Equatorial Guinea went to the polls on Sunday, with President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo all but certain of winning a record sixth term in the West African country with next to no opposition.
Obiang, aged 80, has been in power for more than 43 years — the longest tenure of any living head of state today except for monarchs.
A few dozen voters had already queued up when the doors swung open at a polling station set up in a school in Malabo’s Semu district early in the morning.
“Voting is going well. Everything is normal. All citizens have to vote,” fridge repair man Norberto Ondo told AFP.
“I expect this election to bring us prosperity,” the 53-year-old added after dropping his ballot in a box at the Nuestra Senora de Bisila school.
Obiang’s re-election seems virtually assured in one of the most authoritarian and enclosed states in the world.
Running against him is Andres Esono Ondo, 61, from the nation’s only tolerated opposition party.
The secretary-general of the Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS) is a candidate for the first time and the sole representative of the muzzled opposition. Ondo has said he fears “fraud” during voting to elect the president, senators and members of parliament.
The government has levelled its own accusations against the politician, in 2019 accusing him of planning “a coup in Equatorial Guinea with foreign funding.”
The third candidate is Buenaventura Monsuy Asumu of the Social Democratic Coalition Party (PCSD), a historic ally of Obiang’s ruling party.
The ex-minister is running for the fourth time but has never done well in previous elections. The opposition has called him a “dummy candidate” without a chance.
Explosions Shake Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant
Powerful explosions shook the area around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant Saturday and again Sunday morning, with the UN’s atomic energy chief calling the fighting between Russia and Ukraine in the region “extremely disturbing.”
The blasts abruptly ended a period of relative calm at the facility, Europe’s largest nuclear plant.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said, “Whoever is behind this, it must stop immediately. As I have said many times before, you’re playing with fire!”
Grossi appealed to Russia and Ukraine to urgently agree to implement a nuclear safety and security zone around the nuclear facility. His earlier appeals have not resulted in any new controls on fighting in the region.
The IAEA said the attacks at Zaporizhzhia damaged some buildings, systems and equipment, but none threatened nuclear safety and security. There have been no casualty reports.
As bitter winter weather hits Ukraine, Russia has been attacking the Ukrainian power grid and other key infrastructure from the air, causing widespread blackouts for millions of Ukrainians. In the Zaporizhzhia region alone, the Ukrainian presidency said, Russian forces shelled civilian infrastructure in about a dozen communities, destroying 30 homes.
The report said one person was wounded, and 20 buildings were damaged in the shelling of Nikopol, a city across the river from the Zaporizhzhia plant.
23 Casualties in Gay Nightclub Shooting in Colorado
Five people were killed and 18 injured in a shooting at a gay nightclub Saturday night in Colorado Springs, Colorado, police said.
A suspect was in custody and was being treated for injuries after the attack at Club Q, Colorado Springs Lieutenant Pamela Castro told a news conference.
Police got the initial phone call just before midnight about the shooting, Castro said.
In its Google listing, Club Q describes itself as an “adult-oriented gay and lesbian nightclub hosting theme nights such as karaoke, drag shows & DJs.”
On its Facebook page, a statement from Club Q said it was “devastated by the senseless attack on our community ... We thank the quick reactions of heroic customers that subdued the gunman and ended this hate attack.”
Turkey Launches Airstrikes on PPK, YPG after Istanbul Bombing
Turkey’s Defence Ministry said Sunday it launched airstrikes over the northern regions of Syria and Iraq, where the ministry is targeting Kurdish groups that it believes are responsible for an attack last week in Istanbul.
The ministry said the strikes hit the bases of the Kurdistan Wokers’ Party, or PKK, and the Syrian People’s Protection Units or YPG.
A bomb hit central Istanbul last week, killing six people and wounding over 80.
Turkey blames the PKK and the YPG for the attack, but both groups have denied the charges.
Washington backs the YPG in its war against the Islamic State terrorist group.
G7 Demands UN Response to North Korea Missile Launches
The United Nations Security Council needs to take “significant measures” in response to the latest intercontinental ballistic missile launch by North Korea, foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) major industrialized nations said on Sunday.
The Security Council is set to discuss North Korea in a meeting on Monday at the request of the United States, following the latest in a series of missile test launches this year.
“(North Korea’s) actions demand a united and robust response by the international community,” the ministers of the United States, Japan, Canada, Germany, Britain, France and Italy said.
Pyongyang tested on Friday a ballistic missile capable of reaching the US mainland shortly after warning of “fiercer military responses” to Washington beefing up its security presence in the region.
The G7 statement said Friday’s test was a “reckless act” and “another blatant violation” of UN resolutions.
“The unprecedented series of unlawful ballistic missile launches conducted by (North Korea) in 2022... pose a serious threat to regional and international peace and security,” the G-7 statement said, adding that the country “cannot and will never have the status of a nuclear-weapon state.”
Canada Imposes Sanctions on 3 Haitian Politicians
Canada has placed sanctions on three Haitian politicians.
The Canadian government said in a statement Saturday the sanctions are being imposed “in response to the egregious conduct of Haitian political elites who provide illicit financial and operational support to armed gangs.”
“Canada has reason to believe,” the statement says, that the individuals are using “their status as current or previous public office holders to protect and enable the illegal activities of armed criminal gangs, including through money laundering and other acts of corruption.”
Reuters identified the trio of politicians as Senator Ronny Célestin, former Senator Hervé Fourcand, and former president of the Chamber of Deputies Gary Bodeau.
The latest round of sanctions effectively freezes any assets the individuals may hold in Canada.
Canada said the criminal gangs and “their supporters continue to terrorize vulnerable populations in Haiti with impunity and are precipitating a humanitarian crisis in Haiti that includes the resurgence of cholera in Haiti.”
Earlier this month, Canada imposed sanctions on two other individuals who Canada said were also providing support to Haitian gangs.
HRW Asks Qatar, FIFA to Acknowledge World Cup Rights Abuses
Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s president, has taken exception to criticism that FIFA, soccer’s governing board, and Qatar, where this year’s World Cup is being held, have run roughshod over the rights of migrant workers drawn to the Middle Eastern country on promises that they would be paid fairly for their work in constructing the numerous facilities needed for the soccer tournament.
“Today I feel Qatari,” Infantino said Saturday at the start of his first news conference of the World Cup. “Today, I feel Arab. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel [like] a migrant worker.”
Human Rights Watch and a coalition of rights organizations have urged Qatar and FIFA to commit to acknowledging and remedying the labour and human rights abuses that thousands of migrant workers suffered while preparing Qatar to host the sports event.
Rights groups have accused Qatar of subjecting migrant workers to harsh working conditions, including nonpayment of wages and long hours in the oppressive heat.
Michael Page, Human Rights Watch’s deputy Middle East and North Arica director, said, “FIFA’s failure to provide a remedy while accruing billions of dollars in revenue has left everything in sight in Qatar – from the roads to the stadiums – as reminders of the migrant workers who built and delivered the games but did not receive their wages or died with no compensation for their families.”
Infantino, meanwhile, praised Qatar for allowing the migrants to work and chided European countries for restricting the flow of migrants.
Pakistan to Reopen Afghan Border Crossing After Fatal Shooting
Pakistan has decided to reopen a key southwestern border crossing with landlocked Afghanistan for trade and pedestrian movements starting Monday, a week after sealing the facility over the killing of a Pakistani security guard by an Afghan “terrorist.”
The deadly shooting, which also wounded two soldiers, took place on November 13 at the Chaman border terminal between the two countries, known as the Friendship Gate.
Abdul Hameed Zehri, a top Chaman district administration official, announced Sunday that Pakistan had agreed to restore the cross-border movement after receiving “firm assurances” from the Taliban government that “the culprit will soon be arrested and severely punished.”
Webb Space Telescope Spots Early Galaxies Hidden from Hubble
NASA’s Webb Space Telescope is finding bright, early galaxies that until now were hidden from view, including one that may have formed a mere 350 million years after the cosmic-creating Big Bang.
Astronomers said Thursday that if the results are verified, this newly discovered throng of stars will beat the most distant galaxy identified by the Hubble Space Telescope, a record-holder that formed 400 million years after the universe began.
Launched last December as a successor to Hubble, the Webb telescope is indicating stars may have formed sooner than previously thought — perhaps within a couple of million years of creation.
Webb’s latest discoveries were detailed in the Astrophysical Journal Letters by an international team led by Rohan Naidu of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The article elaborates on two exceptionally bright galaxies, the first thought to have formed 350 million years after the Big Bang and the other 450 million years after.
China Announces First COVID-19 Death in Almost 6 Months
China on Sunday announced its first new death from COVID-19 in nearly half a year as strict new measures are imposed in Beijing and across the country to ward against new outbreaks.
The death of the 87-year-old Beijing man was the first reported by the National Health Commission since May 26, bringing the total death toll to 5,227. The previous death was reported in Shanghai, which underwent a major springtime surge in cases.
China on Sunday announced 24,215 new cases detected over the previous 24 hours, the vast majority asymptomatic.
While China has an overall vaccination rate of more than 92 per cent, having received at least one dose, that number is considerably lower among the elderly — particularly those over age 80 — where it falls to just 65 per cent. The commission did not give details on the vaccination status of the latest deceased.
That vulnerability is considered one reason why China has mostly kept its borders closed and is sticking with its rigid “zero-COVID” policy that seeks to wipe out infections through lockdowns, quarantines, case tracing and mass testing, despite the impact on normal life and economy and rising public anger at the authorities.
•