Mass rallies in Oz to welcome refugees
SYDNEY: Thousands of Australians have taken part in rallies to welcome refugees and make a stand against rising farright sentiment against foreigners.
More than 20 000 people, including prominent politicians, attended demonstrations on Saturday in 25 cities and towns across the country, Mohammad Al-Khafaji, chief executive of Welcome to Australia, said.
Outwardly, easy-going Australia has a troubling record on ethnic diversity. A White Australia Policy, which was only dismantled in the late 1960s, favoured European migrants over non-whites. Aborigines were administered under flora and fauna laws until then and remain far behind most people in literacy, health and economic standards.
In recent months, race relations have deteriorated, with anti-immigration rhetoric from far-right groups and once fringe parties. Fear of attacks by Islamist militants has also clouded the attitude of some people. – Reuters
Party chief quits
ALGIERS: The long-standing chief of Algeria’s ruling FLN party, Amar Saadani, has resigned just weeks after making accusations that a retired spy chief and a former prime minister had been French agents.
Saadani, a close ally of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, has often been critical of opponents, but analysts said he crossed a line when he openly criticised veterans of the independence war against France.
Algeria is mostly still run by a generation of older politicians involved in the war of independence against France, including Bouteflika. And the FLN or Front de Liberation Nationale has dominated Algeria’s politics since 1962. “I am resigning because of health problems,” Saadani told FLN members during a meeting on Saturday, broadcast on television.
Djamel Ould Abes, 82, a doctor and close Bouteflika associate, has been appointed new FLN chief. – Reuters
Iraq ban on alcohol
BAGHDAD: The Iraq’s parliament has passed a law forbidding the import, production or selling of alcoholic beverages in a surprise move that angered many in the country’s Christian community who rely on the business.
The bill, passed late on Saturday, imposes a fine of up to 25 million Iraqi dinars (R294 000) for anyone violating the ban.
Islam forbids the consumption of alcohol, but it has always been available in Iraq’s larger cities, mainly from shops run by Christians. Those shops are currently closed because of the Shia holy month of Muharram.
Iraq’s parliament is dominated by Shia Islamist parties.
Kirk Sowell, the publisher of the biweekly newsletter Inside Iraqi Politics, said the bill was clearly supported by Shia Islamists but came “as a bit of a surprise because it has not been a subject of major debate or discussion”. – Reuters
ICC: Uganda not sure
KAMPALA: Uganda says it remains “undecided” about whether to leave the International Criminal Court after Burundi and South Africa decided to pull out.
Uganda has led criticism of the tribunal, with President Yoweri Museveni calling it “useless.”
Deputy Foreign Minister Oryem Okello has said the matter is best decided as a bloc and that ICC withdrawals are expected to be a “hot issue” at an African Union summit in January.
Uganda’s president once was a firm supporter of the ICC when it pursued warlord Joseph Kony for alleged war crimes committed in the northern part of the country.
South Africa said on Friday it will submit a bill in Parliament to leave the ICC.
Burundi has already announced it is leaving. – AP
Smoke and stroke risks
NEW YORK: The increased risk of stroke that comes with smoking may extend to non-smokers who live in the same household and breathe in second-hand smoke, a US study suggests. Researchers found that those who had never smoked and who had had a stroke were nearly 50% more likely to have been exposed to second-hand smoke at home than people who had never had a stroke. – Reuters BRUSSELS: Britain will “continue to play a full role until we leave”, Prime Minister Theresa May told fellow leaders at her first EU summit.
But for many Britons in Brussels that is a forlorn hope.
Formally, yes, the heads of European Union institutions say Britain and its citizens will keep seats at council tables and in Parliament or go on with EU civil service careers in the two to three years left before it quits the 28-nation bloc.
In reality, say British lawmakers