The Nation Newspaper

Category: Foreign

  • Kenyan court upholds ban on same-sex marriage

    The Kenyan High Court on Friday handed down a landmark ruling banning same-sex relations in what gender activists called “a blow to human rights.”

    “We are satisfied that the provisions (in the constitution) do not offend (homosexuals’) rights to dignity and privacy,” said judge Roselyne Aburili in the capital Nairobi.

    “We find that the sections are not unconstitutional,” Aburili added.

    There was no conclusive scientific proof that homosexuals “were born that way” and therefore needed special consideration within the constitution, Aburili explained the ruling.

    Decriminalising gay sex would “open a door to same sex unions, which would go directly against the spirit of Article 45 of the constitution on marriage,” the justice further said.

    Judge John Mativo meanwhile said the petitioners had failed to provide credible evidence to demonstrate that the law discriminates against homosexuals.

    The ban was constitutional because it specifies that “any person” is punishable under the law and does not single out homosexuals, said Mativo.

    Friday’s ruling comes after three Kenyan gay rights organisations filed petitions to declare sections of the penal code, which stem from the 1930s and make gay sex a crime, unconstitutional.

    READ ALSO: Benue Assembly outlaws same-sex marriage

    The case challenged colonial-era laws that criminalise homosexuality with a maximum jail sentence of 14 years.

    Gender activists called the ruling “a blow to human rights” in Kenya.

    “In handing down this most disappointing judgment, the Court has ruled that a certain sector of our society is not deserving of (human) rights,” said Njeri Gateru, executive director of the Kenyan National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC) and the main petitioner in the case.

    The ban was leading to violence, blackmail, harassment and torture of homosexuals, said Gateru.

    “They devastate people’s lives and have no place in a democratic Kenyan society,” he added.

    Court hearings on the matter had been ongoing since February 2018.

    News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that same sex marriage is both un-African and abhorred by African citizens as being against God’s commandments.

  • Breaking: Theresa May to resign as British Prime Minister

    British Prime Minister Theresa May has announced her resignation, finally bowing to intense political pressure over the failure to deliver her signature policy — Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union.

    May said Friday she would quit as leader of the Conservative Party on June 7, but would stay on as Prime Minister until a successor is chosen.

    May was forced into making the announcement after losing the support of her Cabinet, many of whom were fed up with the ongoing turmoil over Brexit.

    The last straw for Cabinet ministers appears to have been the latest version of May’s Brexit plan, which she unveiled on Tuesday. In an attempt to win over opposition lawmakers, May offered the House of Commons the chance to vote on a second referendum — a concession that was bitterly opposed by some senior members of her government.

    Her fate was sealed by the leadership of the 1922 Committee — which represents the interests of rank-and-file lawmakers in May’s Conservative Party — who threatened to change party rules to allow a vote of no-confidence. May survived an earlier confidence vote in December last year, and under current rules was immune to challenge for another year.

    May’s announcement will set off a frantic race to succeed her. One leading candidate is Boris Johnson, the buffoonish but wily former Foreign Secretary who commands significant support among grassroots members of the party.

    Read Also: Breaking: Theresa May sacks Defence Secretary

    Johnson has bitterly opposed the withdrawal deal that May negotiated with the EU, and resigned from her Cabinet over it. But it’s unclear whether her successor would have any luck reopening the deal, which Brussels has insisted is locked down. May’s successor as prime minister will face the same deadlocked House of Commons, which has repeatedly rejected May’s plan but failed to vote in favor of any kind of alternative.

    That may raise the prospect of a new Conservative leader calling a general election in an attempt to break the impasse.

    May’s decision to step down is an inglorious end for a prime minister who was ushered into office on the back of the Brexit vote, promising to deliver on the results of the referendum.

    But the deal that resulted from a tortuous set of negotiations with the EU was rejected three times by the House of Commons.

    On Tuesday, in an attempt to repackage the plan, May rolled it up into a wider set of legislation dealing with Britain’s departure. As well as the offer of a second referendum, it also contained pledges on workers’ rights, environmental provisions, as well as a temporary customs relationship with the European Union.

    But her “new Brexit deal” was greeted with significant opposition from across the political spectrum. Hardline Conservatives who had supported May’s last deal, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MPs who prop up May’s minority government in Parliament and supporters of a second referendum alike all rejected it.

    CNN

     

  • Theresa May expected to resign as British PM Friday

    Theresa May is expected to announce her resignation as British Prime Minister on Friday, most British newspapers reported on Thursday.

    May’s resignation will trigger a race among senior ministers to replace her as leader of the Conservative Party, and herald a new approach to the deadlocked Brexit negotiations that have besieged her premiership, local media said.

    The latest blow for May came on Wednesday night when one of her staunchest supporters, leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom, resigned.

    Leadsom said she could not present the prime minister’s withdrawal bill — which May plans to publish Friday — to parliament because she opposed a second referendum.

    With opposition growing among MPs from May’s own Conservative Party, a number of her senior ministers tried in vain Wednesday night to plead with May to pull her proposed withdrawal bill and to announce her resignation.

    May has a meeting slated Friday with Graham Brady, Chairman of the 1922 Committee which represents Conservative backbench MPs in the House of Commons, to discuss whether the prime minister should resign, newspapers in London said.

    Read Also: Theresa May could give details of resignation date next week

    Brady will have with him sealed letters from committee members with their verdicts on whether rules should be changed to allow an immediate vote of confidence in May, they said.

    Downing Street said May still intends to present her bill to the House of Commons early June, but it is widely expected to be defeated again like on the three previous occasions when the bill has been presented.

    The drama came as millions of people in Britain cast their ballots on Thursday for the European Parliament elections.

    Currently Britain is scheduled to leave the EU by Oct. 31.

  • Thai court suspends progressive party leader

    Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Thursday suspended the leader of the progressive anti-junta Future Forward Party’s status as an elected member of parliament while determining whether to disqualify him.

    The suspension came as the court decided to accept the Election Commission’s petition seeking the disqualification of rising political star Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, 40.

    The former auto-parts tycoon was accused of violating the election law over his holding of shares in a media company, among many other cases against him and his party.

    He has been charged with sedition for allegedly aiding anti-junta protesters in 2015, and computer crime for criticising the regime on Facebook in 2018.

    Read Also: Telecoms sector attracts $70b investment

    Thanathorn said the charges are politically motivated, and that the election was neither free nor fair.

    Since coming to power in a 2014 coup, the military has charged many dissidents with sedition and computer crime under harsh laws and has put many civilians in military detention.

    The regime postponed the election date at least five times before settling for March 24.

    It has been widely speculated that the election will only lead to semi-democratic rule thanks to the rubber-stamp Senate, which is expected to vote for junta leader Prayut Chan-o-cha to remain in power as prime minister.

    The Future Forward Party has formed an alliance with six other parties, making up 244 MPs, just under half of the lower house, which will convene for the first time on Saturday.
    The parliamentary vote for the prime minister is expected next week.

  • Putin’s advisers worry about troubles at major Russian newspaper

    Russian President Vladimir Putin’s human rights council on Tuesday said that it was “seriously concerned” about troubles at a major business-focused newspaper, Kommersant.

    The newspaper has reportedly severed relations with two employees over an article that cited undisclosed sources as saying the speaker of the upper house of parliament, 70-year-old Valentina Matviyenko, would soon resign.

    Several other employees have announced they are also leaving the newspaper in solidarity, and 200 have signed a petition defending the publication of the article, according to a senior reporter’s statement posted on Facebook.

    The article, published in April, speculated that Matviyenko could take on a sort of pre-retirement job as head of the national pension fund.

    Her replacement, it said, could be Sergei Naryshkin, current head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service.

    Kommersant employees have accused billionaire shareholder Alisher Usmanov of being responsible for the initial employees losing their jobs.

    Usmanov has reportedly denied involvement.

    The human rights council, which advises the president, appeared to defend the journalists, saying it would be wise for Kommersant’s ownership to “keep from interfering in editorial affairs.”

    On Monday, a senior editor and 10 journalists at Russian daily newspaper Kommersant said they were resigning to protest against the firing of two colleagues over an article about a possible reshuffle of President Vladimir Putin’s close allies.

    The two reporters, Ivan Safronov and Maxim Ivanov, said they had been forced to quit after Kommersant’s publishing house – owned by billionaire businessman Alisher Usmanov – took umbrage at an article they authored last month.

    A representative for Usmanov said separately that “the shareholder does not interfere in editorial policy let alone make decisions on dismissing or employing journalists.”

    The article in question, published on April 17, cited unnamed sources as saying that Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the upper house of parliament, could be replaced by Sergei Naryshkin, head of the SVR Foreign Intelligence Service, in the coming months.

    “The shareholder has the right to take personnel decisions, employees have the right to not agree with them in only one way – by changing their job,” Cherkasov wrote on Facebook.

    Renata Yambaeva, a deputy chief editor overseeing business news who did not resign, blamed the firings on Usmanov and one of his representatives, Ivan Streshinsky, denouncing the sackings as outside pressure on the newspaper.

    “Maybe there is someone among our readers who can explain to … Usmanov and Streshinsky that right now they are destroying one of Russia’s best media,” she said.

  • Palestinians reject US economic peace summit

    The Palestinian leadership on Monday pushed back against a plan for an economic conference next month in support of Washington’s Middle East peace plan, saying it was not consulted and no party was entitled to negotiate on its behalf.

    The White House announced Sunday it would co-host the June 25-26 conference with Bahrain focusing on economic aspects of the long-delayed peace plan, with the declared aim of achieving Palestinian prosperity.

    “We were not consulted by any party on the announced meeting to take place in Manama, Bahrain,” Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said in a statement. “We have not mandated any party to negotiate on our behalf.”

    A senior administration official in Washington told reporters Sunday that invitations to the conference are being sent to individuals in the United States, Europe, the Gulf, the wider Arab world and “some” Palestinian business leaders. The official spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement.

    Palestinian minister Ahmed Majdalani told Reuters Palestinians would not send a representative.

    “There will be no Palestinian participation in the Manama workshop,” he said. “Any Palestinian who would take part would be nothing but a collaborator for the Americans and Israel.”

    Palestinian businessman Bashar al-Masri said he had been invited to the conference, but would not attend.

    “We will not work with any event outside the Palestinian national consensus,” he said on Facebook.

    The plan envisions large-scale investment and infrastructure work, much of it funded by wealthy Arab countries, in the Palestinian territories.

    But officials say the gathering will not address the core political issues at the center of the conflict: final borders, the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees or Israeli security demands.

    “Any solution to the conflict in Palestine must be political … and based on ending the occupation,” PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said at a Monday cabinet meeting. “The current financial crisis is a result of a financial war waged against us and we will not succumb to blackmailing and extortion and will not trade our national rights for money.”

    The Palestinians, who severed ties with the US over a year ago, have repeatedly expressed fears that the White House will try to buy them off with large sums of investment in exchange for freezing their demands for an independent state. They believe the US is trying to rally support from other Arab countries to bully them into accepting a plan they see as unacceptable.

    Read Also: Trump blames Obama, Bush, Clinton for making China rich

    “Attempts at promoting an economic normalization of the Israeli occupation of Palestine will be rejected,” Erekat said Monday. “This is not about improving living conditions under occupation but about reaching Palestine’s full potential by ending the Israeli occupation.”

    Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas, said the plan was doomed to fail if no political solution was included.

    “Any plan without a political horizon will not lead to peace,” Abu Rudeineh said.

    The Trump administration is expected to unveil the long-awaited plan — after numerous failures by their predecessors — possibly as early as next month, but the Palestinians have already rejected it as heavily biased in favor of Israel.

    Washington has yet to commit to an exact timetable as concerns the political aspects of the plan.

    On Sunday, Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner said the Manama meeting would be an “opportunity to present our ideas for creating greater economic vibrancy in the region.”

    “The Palestinian people, along with all people in the Middle East, deserve a future with dignity and the opportunity to better their lives,” he said in a statement.

    “Economic progress can only be achieved with a solid economic vision and if the core political issues are resolved,” Kushner added. “We look forward to presenting our vision on ways to bridge the core political issues very soon.”

    Kushner has promised new ideas for the plan, indicating that the Trump proposal will pull back from longstanding mentions of a two-state solution with the Palestinians and accept Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

    (www.timesofisrael.com)

  • Judge to consider bid to block Trump’s emergency border wall funds

    U.S. President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration to divert more than six billion dollars to build a wall on the border with Mexico will face its first test in court on Friday.

    The states and advocacy groups are expected to ask a federal judge to block the funding.

    At the centre of Friday’s hearing is the question of the president’s authority to construct a wall using funds that Congress declined to approve for the amount he requested.

    In February, Congress approved 1.375 billion dollars for construction of “primary pedestrian fencing” along the border in Southeast Texas, well short of Trump’s demand for 5.7 billion dollars to build border walls in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

    To obtain the additional money, Trump declared a national emergency and diverted 601 million dollars from a Treasury forfeiture fund, 3.6 billion dollars from military construction and 2.5 billion dollars earmarked for Department of Defence counterdrug programmes.

    “Congress’s refusal to fund President Trump’s wall isn’t an emergency, it’s democracy,” said a statement from Dror Ladin, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents plaintiffs in the case.

    The Trump administration argues the plaintiffs have not shown any injury caused by the funding decisions and that existing law gives it the leeway to redirect the money for such purposes as “an unforeseen military requirement” or a “law enforcement activity.”

    Trump made a border wall the centre of his 2016 campaign for president, when he said Mexico would pay for construction.

    That pledge went nowhere, and Trump also hit resistance in Congress even as apprehensions of migrants by border agents hit a decade high as of April.

    The plaintiffs in Friday’s hearing include 20 states, the Sierra Club environmental group and the Southern Border Communities Coalition, which advocates for immigrants.

    They argued in court papers that the administration has violated the separation of power principle of the U.S. Constitution, among other claims.

    Read Also: Trump raises tariffs on $200bn Chinese goods

    The plaintiffs also said wall construction would harm the environment and the wildlife habitats for such creatures as Gila monsters and the Mexican wolf.

    The diversion of Treasury forfeiture funds would undermine state law enforcement, they argued.

    New York state, for example, has used forfeiture funds to buy bullet-proof vests and naloxone, a drug that counters opioid overdoses.

    Although it is not a plaintiff, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives plans to argue in support of the plaintiffs at the hearing.

    The House called the diversion of funds a “flagrant disregard for the bedrock principle” that Congress controls federal spending.

    The hearing comes the same week that Trump has outlined proposals to beef up security along the Southwest border and shift immigration policy to favor well-educated English speakers over a system that emphasises uniting families.

  • R. Kelly pays two months advance of child support

    Popular American multiple Grammy Award Winner, Robert Sylvester Kelly a.k.a. R. Kelly is getting ahead of his child support obligation by paying up to two months in advance to avoid another scare.

    Kelly’s manager Darrell Johnson told TMZ that Kelly’s family attorney, Lisa Damico appeared in Chicago Court Tuesday afternoon and paid $41,666 to cover June and July child support to his ex-wife Andrea Lee.

    As for the $32,000 Kelly still owes in interest on back child support, no decision was made in court.

    However, Johnson says they don’t plan on paying anyway.

    “At no point in the foreseen future do we see paying interest of child support. As of May 14 2019, Mr. Kelly is up to date on support payments.’’

    It was previously reported that the father of three avoided another trip to the slammer earlier this month after appearing in court and paying all of the back child support ($62,000) he owed Lee.

    The 52 year-old born Chicago rapper turn singer, song writer, and record producer has been on the hook for child support for $20,833 since January 2009.

    On March 6, 2019, Kelly was taken back to the Cook County Jail after failing to pay $161,633 in child support.

    On March 9, 2019, he was released after someone, who didn’t want to be identified, paid off the child support.

    His lawyer said he couldn’t discuss the payment due to a Gag Order.

    In 1996, Kelly married Lee, his former backup dancer and mother of his three children (Jay, Joann and Robert Kelly Jr.)

    In 1997, he built a house in Olympia Fields, a village in Cook County, Illinois and moved in.

    Lee filed a restraining order against Kelly in September 2005 after a physical altercation and ultimately filed for divorce in 2006.

    Read Also: R Kelly and RCA record label end ties

    In January 2009, it was reported that Kelly’s divorce was finalised.

    His Olympia Fields house became the subject of a foreclosure lawsuit in 2011, and has since been bought by Rudolph Isley.

    However, with his up to date child support status, the 6 foot 1 inch singer and professional basketball player can focus on the 10 count charge of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving underage girls.

    In addition, he could focus on making more money through music, acting and if possible endorsements to further prepare him financially to meet up to his child support obligation the two months has elapsed.

  • North Korea demands release of coal ship seized by U.S.

    North Korea on Tuesday demanded the release of a cargo ship seized by the U.S. on suspicion of breaching UN and U.S. sanctions, the official Yonhap news agency cited Pyongyang state media as saying.

    The U.S. government on Thursday seized the North Korean ship which was being used to export coal, the first time Washington has taken such a step against Pyongyang.

    U.S. authorities said the ship, the Wise Honest, was captured after it attempted to hide its country of origin and was now in their custody.

    The Justice Department described the 17,061-ton, single-hull bulk carrier ship as one of North Korea’s largest.

    “The U.S. should think seriously about what consequences its brigandish act will bring about and return our ship without delay,” a North Korean spokesperson was quoted by Yonhap as saying.

    Read Also: North Korea fires unidentified projectile — South’s military

    The spokesperson reportedly added that the seizure was a violation of a joint declaration signed by the two countries, following the first-ever summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June 2018.

    Negotiations regarding North Korea’s nuclear weapons have recently stalled and tensions between the two countries have been rising.

    Pyongyang and Washington have recently tested missiles. North Korea launched short-range “projectiles,” while the U.S. tested intercontinental ballistic missiles.

  • Sri Lanka widens curfew after mosques attacks

    Sri Lanka widened a curfew on Monday after attacks on mosques and Muslim-owned businesses in the worst unrest since Easter bombings by militants.

    The country also blocked Facebook and WhatsApp to stop people inciting violence.

    The island nation has ramped up security as fears grow that minority Muslims among its population of 22 million could face sectarian violence after bombers blew themselves up in four hotels and three churches, killing more than 250 people.

    Several mosques and Muslim homes were damaged in an attack overnight in the Western district of Kurunegala, the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka and residents said.

    Police arrested a group of men for the attacks but people in the mostly Buddhist district then demanded their release, military spokesman Sumith Atapattu said.

    “To control the situation, a police curfew was imposed during the night,” he said.
    Later on Monday, authorities extended the curfew to more villages in Kurunegala district to restore order.

    April’s bombings claimed by Islamic State have shocked the island nation of 22 million people, more than 70 per cent of whom are Sinhalese Buddhists and the rest Muslims, Hindus and Christians.

    Since the bombings, Muslim groups say they have received dozens of complaints about people being harassed.

    There was glass everywhere at the Abrar mosque in the Muslim-majority town of Kiniyama that was attacked overnight.

    All the windows and doors of the soft-pink building were smashed and copies of the Quran were thrown onto the floor.

    Seven bikes parked outside were damaged.

    A mosque official said the attacks were triggered when several people, including some Buddhist monks, demanded a search of the main building after soldiers had inspected a 105-acre (43-hectare) pond nearby.

    “When Muslims tried to prevent the attack, we were asked by police to go inside,” the official said.

    Authorities imposed a temporary ban on social media networks and messaging apps after a clash in another part of the country was traced to a dispute on Facebook.

    Several dozen people threw stones at mosques and Muslim-owned stores and a man was beaten in the Christian-majority town of Chilaw on the West coast on Sunday in the dispute that started on Facebook, police sources and residents said.

    Authorities said they arrested the author of a Facebook post, identified as 38-year-old Abdul-Hameed Mohamed-Hasmar, whose online comment “1 day u will cry” people said was interpreted as threatening violence.

    “Social media blocked again as a temporary measure to maintain peace in the country,” Nalaka Kaluwewa, Director-General of the government information Department, said on Monday.

    On Twitter, Sri Lanka’s leading mobile phone operator, Dialog Axiata Plc, said it had also received instructions to block the apps Viber, IMO, Snapchat, Instagram and Youtube until further notice.