Israelis have stopped highways and staged demonstrations in opposition to a controversial plan by the government to reform the judicial system.
The protestors’ expectation is that the events that took place on Thursday would increase the amount of pressure that lawmakers are under only a few days after the legislature resumed its session following a month-long break.
Israelis shut down highways in protest of Netanyahu’s law reform
After coming under strong criticism in March, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put a halt to the reform, and the two opposing parties are currently attempting to strike a compromise deal.
Tens of thousands of people have continued to demonstrate each and every Saturday night since then, which is a statement that they do not trust his intentions.
It was anticipated that the midweek demonstration on Thursday would be on a lower scale; nonetheless, the protestors’ goal is to remind legislators of their presence and their capacity to disrupt countrywide operations because of their resistance to the revamp.
Turkey celebrates its 100th anniversary on October 29. Yeni Raki, a local raki company, released a political ad before this critical event. Since the 2013 AKP alcohol advertising ban, the ad targets international audiences and the Turkish diaspora.
However, Turks and observers may see a subtext. How will you celebrate on that day? asks the commercial. As Turkey heads towards one of the most significant general elections on May 14, it was not the 100th-anniversary celebrations that came to mind, but the celebrations if the AKP loses after twenty years of government.
How will you celebrate that day?
The video is full of dance steps, smiling, and singing, but the most powerful part is when a woman declares she will celebrate by going back. It was seen as a message to all expat Turks, particularly those who left Turkey due to economic hardship and rising conservatism.
“‘When that day comes’ is the latest (bold) ad for Turkey’s alcohol brand, Yeni Raki, suggesting to the viewer it’s over the sheer joy of an opposition win in the upcoming elections but then reveals it’s actually celebrating the Republic’s centennial,” tweeted longtime Turkey observer Louis Fishman.
Another Twitter user noted that Yeni Raki released the commercial three weeks before the election, six months before the centennial celebrations.
AKP’s anti-alcohol and non-Muslim stance
In 2021, Nazli Ertan stated, “Ever since 2002, a string of laws and regulations adopted under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) sought to make alcohol impossible to advertise and promote, expensive to drink, and unprofitable to sell.”
The 2002 Special Consumption Tax was the first restriction. Alcohol taxes rose to 48 percent. Hikes continued. According to The Independent, the alcohol tax rate exceeded 250 percent at the time of writing.
It prohibited alcohol ads in 2013 after limiting them in 2009. In 2013, the state banned alcohol sales after 10 pm. Alcohol cannot be sold 100 meters from a mosque or school.
The COVID-19 epidemic has tightened restrictions. Events have midnight curfews since 2021. The government planned to ban alcohol sales during the pandemic curfew.
With the release of the Yeni Raki commercial, #OGünGeldiğinde (When that day comes) trended on Twitter, which was expected given the history of restrictions. Dance emojis and AKP defeat wishes swamped Twitter.
The advertisement also showed a group of students rejoicing outside Bogazici University, where protests have been going on since February 2021 when the state selected a pro-government rector.
Sassy posters, raving to sirens, dancing with water jets, and scooter barricades have become emblems of the protests that defeated Georgia’s controversial foreign agent bill and Generation Z’s (born 1997–2013) political entry.
Anastasia Pirtskhalaishvili, 21, feels this demonstration was more humorous. After the ruling party passed the foreign agent bill in its first reading, thousands of young people protested in early March, including Pirtskhalaishvili. The proposed bill, “on transparency of foreign influence,” resembled Russia’s 2012 “foreign agent” law, which has been used to repress dissent and opposition.
A group of parliamentarians who left the ruling Georgian Dream party last year and founded People’s Power in August 2022 advocated it. The law would “compel foreign-funded non-governmental organizations to register as foreign influence agents,” according to Eurasianet.
Thousands of Georgians marched against the measure. Images of young people like Pirtskhalaishvili standing unflinchingly while water cannons are fired, donning snorkels, goggles, face masks, and scarves to shield from pepper spray and tear gas, or dancing as the riot police advance have gone viral online.
Pirtskhalaishvili thinks youth protests were serious despite their humor. “Dancing to the sirens also showed that we are not afraid and can overcome this.”
Pirtskhalaishvili protested peacefully outside Parliament on March 7. She was arrested and tear-gassed. “Twice they dispersed people, and both times we returned to the area in front of the Parliament, but so much gas was released that my throat burned terribly,” she says.
“Two policemen sneaked up behind me and arrested two of my friends and me while we were shouting at a peaceful demonstration.”
She claims she was charged with public order and insulting police. Though released, her trial continues. The day after her arrest, Pirtskhalaishvili protested again.
Georgia belongs in Europe.
Nikoloz Arobelidze, 22, tells OC Media that the government should not pass a law if tens of thousands of people oppose it.
After observing riot police disperse the previous night’s rally, Arobelidze attended the March 8 protests despite the risk of injury. “I was standing in front of parliament when I heard chaos, people shouting, ‘Run, help, they are shooting at us.’ He recalls people fleeing.
“Seconds before that, I thought nothing bad would happen to my friends and me because we were standing peacefully, but suddenly I saw some [tear gas] thrown, which burned my face, eyes, nose, and throat terribly. He adds, “I understood that I should have breathed less, but because of the panic, it became more frequent.” The coughing continued for several days.
Like many others, Arobelidze said that for young people like him, the protests were about more than this law—they were about the country’s democracy and place in Europe.
“We stood there and told the government that we want a bright future where we don’t have to fear that the Russians will come and take the country or that their tanks will hit us,” he said. “Everyone thinks Georgia belongs in Europe.”
Protesters took refuge at Kashueti Church on March 8 as riot police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse them from Parliament. Since the protests began the week before, 23-year-old Gvantsa Seturidze had been protesting. Gvantsa thinks the March 7 and 8 protests had a distinct vitality as a new generation spoke out.
She noted how people distributed eye cleansing items, water, and face masks and helped others find shelter throughout these days. “The young people somehow lightened everything,” she remarked of the “very difficult period.”
Gen Z protests differently. At the rally, children asked a police officer if he wanted pretzel sticks. “The police officer said, ‘Don’t think that I’ll refuse,’ and he took it,” she recounts.
All the young individuals who spoke to “OC Media” said they had protested in Georgia with people of all ages, including against the draft foreign agent law. At this protest, Gen-Z and millennial voices were loudest.
“Slay generation, the lame government”
Sarcastic and humorous protest posters became viral online. Gen Z is untrollable. “Hello, 112? “78 of us pressed a button, and we are all fucked now” (a misrepresentation of the 76 MPs who voted for the law and Georgia’s emergency response number 112), “We go to clubs because of the sirens and smoke, you bastards!” “You can’t poison me with your gas ’cause my ex was more toxic.” Lists continue.
“SLAY generation, LAME government can’t deceive us” was a popular web poster. The poster’s author, 23-year-old Mariam Kereselidze, told “OC Media” that she was hesitant to use it at the demonstration, but she did. As a content manager, I work with texts daily. This message came to me abruptly. My poster was well-received by many. “When I explained ‘slay’ or ‘lame’, they laughed,” adds Kereselidze.
She attended the event because she believes tiny steps can lead to huge victories. She stated, “We have lost many battles in recent years, but this one, in my opinion, was decisive.”
Wednesday, Myanmar’s governing military council announced the release of over 2,100 political prisoners as a humanitarian gesture. Thousands more remain imprisoned on charges generally related to nonviolent protests or criticism of military rule, which began when the army usurped power in February 2021 from Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government.
State-run Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, chairman of Myanmar’s military council, reportedly pardoned 2,153 prisoners on the most important Buddhist holy day of the year, which commemorates the birth, enlightenment, and death of Buddha.
The releases began on Wednesday, but completion could take several days. The identities of those released were not immediately available, but they would not include Suu Kyi, who is currently serving a 33-year prison sentence for more than a dozen charges her supporters claim were fabricated by the military.
The amnesty frees almost 2,100 political prisoners in Myanmar.
According to an official announcement on state media, all of the Wednesday pardoned prisoners had been convicted under a section of Myanmar’s penal code that makes it a crime to spread comments that cause public unrest or fear, or to spread false news, and carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
The provisions of the pardon stipulate that if the formerly incarcerated individuals violate the law again, they must serve the remainder of their original sentences in addition to any new term imposed for the new offense.
In Myanmar, mass prisoner releases are common during significant holidays. The last time so many political prisoners were released simultaneously was in July 2021, when 2,296 prisoners were released.
Several high-profile political prisoners, including an Australian academic, a Japanese filmmaker, an ex-British diplomat, and an American, were released in November of last year as part of a broad prisoner amnesty that also freed many local citizens detained for protesting the army occupation.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners reported on Tuesday that 17,897 individuals detained since the 2021 military coup remained in custody. The organization retains meticulous records of arrests and casualties associated with the military government’s repression.
The release of prisoners appears to be an endeavor by the repressive military government to improve its image as a major violator of human rights.
After a surprise meeting with Min Aung Hlaing last week, former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Myanmar’s military to take the initiative in resolving the country’s violent political crisis, including the release of political detainees.
Over 2,100 political prisoners in Myanmar are released due to a pardon.
In a statement issued after the meeting, Ban affirmed that he “supported the international community’s calls for the immediate release by the Myanmar military of all arbitrarily detained prisoners, for constructive dialogue, and for the utmost restraint from all parties.”
The amnesty also occurred a day after Min Aung Hlaing conferred with the visiting Chinese foreign minister, whose country has provided crucial support to his regime ever since it seized power.
MRTV reported on Tuesday that Qin Gang met with Min Aung Hlaing and other senior officials in the capital, Naypyitaw, to discuss bilateral relations, Myanmar’s political situation, and the conditions necessary for its stability and development.
China has strategic geopolitical and economic interests in Myanmar, its southern neighbor, and is one of the few large nations to maintain good relations with Myanmar’s military government, which is shunned and sanctioned by many Western nations for its violent repression of its opponents.
Since the army took control, Myanmar has been in turmoil. Its takeover prompted peaceful demonstrations that were violently suppressed by security forces. Since then, violence has escalated due to the rise of armed resistance across the nation and massive military efforts to suppress it.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, as of Tuesday, 3,452 civilians had been slain by security forces since the military takeover.
On a cool autumn night in Santiago, Chile, a football stadium flies the Palestinian flag.
The Palestinian Sports Club, a professional football team that plays in the green, black, red, and white colors of the Palestinian flag, has hundreds of fans.
The team’s left sleeve has a Palestinian map from 75 years ago.
The 1920 Palestinian expat club is always political.
“More than a team, an entire people,” the club’s emblem says.
“We even have songs: ‘Gaza resists/Palestine exists’,” 29-year-old Rafael Milad told AFP.
“Palestino is 100 years old, older than the State of Israel,” he said, referencing the team’s moniker.
“Palestino is Palestine”
Christian Arabs from Bethlehem, Beit Jala, and Beit Sahur migrated in Chile at the start of the 20th century and formed the largest Christian Arab population outside the Arab world, roughly half a million people.
35 of their ancestors became ministers or lawmakers after becoming successful textile businessmen.
The club debuted professionally 30 years after its 1920 founding.
Palestinians are Palestinians. “We are always concerned with the cause,” stated former club player Roberto Bishara.
The team won two national titles (1955 and 1978) and reached the 1979 Copa Libertadores semifinals.
After a complaint, the Chilean football organization fined and suspended the squad for changing the number 1 on their jersey to the elongated shape of Palestine before 1948 in 2014.
The players also sparked controversy by wearing the Middle Eastern keffiyeh on the field.
Ramallah fans watched a 2019 international match versus River Plate on huge screens.
The team no longer has Palestinian players. Nicolas Zedan left in 2021.
“All those Palestinians who are there having a hard time” are still represented by the team. “Each Palestino triumph… is a small joy among their daily suffering,” 49-year-old Palestinian lawyer Miguel Cordero told AFP.
Women too
Fans watch matches at a 4,600-member Santiago clubhouse when not at the stadium.
The venue has a mural of Yasser Arafat, a Palestinian map, and Arabic music.
The team’s most eccentric supporter is Francisco Munoz, 48.
He wears an Arab “sheikh” costume at the stadium and worships the team at home.
I witnessed Israelis kidnapping and executing people at a meeting. He claimed he sympathized with the cause there.
Sabas Chahuan, Palestino vice president, said “there is no confrontation (with the community)” in Chile, save with extremist sectors.
According to the UN, the Palestino team aggressively promotes its female division, unlike women in the occupied Palestinian territory, who may suffer backlash for gender equality activities.
I think of Palestinian ladies when playing football. “It would be nice if they had the freedom to express what they feel,” says Isabel Barrios, coordinator of the women’s squad founded over 25 years ago and league champion in 2015.
Chilean club funds Palestinian football schools for boys and girls.
Potholes are a clear indication that politics have influenced the operation and maintenance of our roads and highways. A political candidate who uncritically promises that he or she is running for Highway District Commission to “Cut Taxes, “Cut Costs,” or “Improve Efficiency” is actually telling you, “Your future is filled with potholes.” Let me explain….
Potholes indicate neglected or deferred maintenance. Without appropriate and punctual maintenance, roads deteriorate. A fissure develops into a hole, and the hole develops into a pothole. Kootenai County is fortunate to have well-managed Highway Districts that recognize the significance of road maintenance.
When funding is reduced or does not maintain pace with costs, either operations or maintenance must be reduced. The transportation commissioners are forced to choose between not plowing snow or not maintaining the roads.
We all know what the commissioners will choose, particularly the politician, because operations are immediate (reelection) and maintenance is “down the road” (pardon the pun).
Local transportation makes our town habitable.
Maintaining local roads in good condition is essential for:
transportation to and from work and education;
deliver products to stores, factories, and enterprises (final mile),
transport goods from factories, farms, and ranches to the marketplace;
facilitating access for first responders and emergency services;
merely a means to reach acquaintances and neighbors.
Our community and economy would collapse without reliable transportation.
If your roof is leaking, do you wait until your home is a total loss, or do you repair the roof? If roads are not maintained and allowed to deteriorate, the replacement cost is between five and ten times the cost of periodic maintenance. We require qualified and experienced Highway District Commissioners in order to allocate these tax dollars wisely.
Local highway districts do not receive sufficient funding from state and federal highway use funds (gas tax) to adequately maintain and operate our public roads. The only additional source of funding available to municipal highway districts to adequately fund road maintenance is the local property tax. Highway districts need leaders with experience and common sense, not politicians, to establish priorities and standards for maintaining our roads with available funds.
The economy is expanding. When a new development is constructed, it is required to build and pay for the necessary infrastructure. Existing road safety and capacity impacts must be mitigated in all highway districts. Additionally, growth has enabled many districts to reduce or maintain the property tax burden on existing residences. We will not cease growth, but it will have less of an impact if we have commissioners who understand the process and enforce infrastructure standards for new developments.
Citizens of the Lakes Highway District, Post Falls Highway District, and Worley Highway District are able to elect local candidates who have the experience and qualifications to comprehend the importance of spending tax dollars wisely. Any candidate who states, “I will reduce taxes” is pandering and asking you to sacrifice lower costs in the present for higher costs in the future.
Do not believe candidates ‘endorsed’ by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee (KCRCC). To limit government spending, “cost reduction” or “tax reduction” may sound like a smart idea. Cost reductions for roads, highways, and bridges are equivalent to deficit expenditure.
Our courts are sometimes overlooked in elections compared to elected legislators.
At election time, many voters pick up their ballots and voter guides and vote for president, governor, senator, and representative, but pause when they reach judges and justices.
Many are unopposed: Just check the box? Whom to vote for if opposed? Candidates rarely offer voters advice during low-key campaigns.
The headlines show those alternatives matter.
Last month’s Wisconsin state Supreme Court election, unusual in its attention, spending, and political impact, may have been the year’s most significant. Its political contours—a purportedly neutral election between candidates openly sponsored by Democratic against Republican interests—are evident.
While his claim is disputed, Texas federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk has claimed the power to ban a drug nationwide, thrusting him into national politics.
Oregon voters approved Measure 114, which regulates gun sales, ownership, transfers, and related activities, by 50.6% last year. The Oregon Firearms Federation and Sherman County Sheriff Brad Lohrey quickly sued in federal court in Portland, claiming the measure violated the Second Amendment. A federal judge approved the measure with some delays on Feb. 20.
Critics of the measure have continued. On December 2, Gun Owners of America, the Gun Owners Foundation, Gliff Asmussen, and Joseph Arnold proceeded to state court before the federal judge ruled. They filed in Harney and Grant counties’ 24th judicial district, which has one elected judge, Robert S. Raschio. Raschio in Burns stopped the bill statewide three hours after the federal court verdict.
The decision was clearly more Burns-oriented than Portland-oriented. “The court finds that there is less than a one in 1,000,000 chance of a person being a fatality in a mass shooting in Oregon,” Raschio wrote on Jan. 2. Even less with a large-capacity magazine offender.”
Local judges affect Oregonians.
The Louisiana Supreme Court has refused state attorneys’ requests to intervene. The Burns courthouse has held the legislation for months.
Senate Bill 348, currently in the Oregon Senate, proposes to adopt Measure 114 with some changes to overcome the court impasse. It also requires legal challenges to be heard in Marion County courts in Salem. (This provision has been added to legislation before.)
This disproves the idea that judges apply the law impartially. Measure 114’s plaintiffs withdrew the case after being displeased with the court’s decision. Dissatisfied, another interest demanded a third venue.
Powerful courts. Whether properly decided, Oregon appellate court decisions have set state policy on public employee retirements, campaign finance, and free speech. Harney County judgments show that the Supreme Court isn’t the only one that matters.
We don’t know the judges’ backgrounds. Like the federal court in Amarillo, Texas, who upheld the abortion pill, Rachio’s judgment appears to have adopted gun rights proponents’ wide arguments and wording. That suggests a background in particular social patterns of thought outside of legal case books. Portland and Eugene judges may have a similar background, but from a different perspective.
We all carry social and experiential baggage to our work, regardless of professional training.
But for judges, we may need to look closer and ask more questions when appointed or elected to know what we’re getting. It depends.
On Tuesday morning, retired Colonel Charles Okello Engola, who had previously served as the deputy minister for gender and labor, was killed by gunfire in his home.
There is a possibility that the soldier and Colonel Engola got into a disagreement, although it is not quite apparent at this time.
The soldier, whose identity has not been made public, subsequently took his own life by shooting himself.
Eyewitnesses claim that the soldier fired shots into the air while walking about the neighborhood before ultimately turning the gun on himself.
A Ugandan army guard shot and killed a cabinet minister.
The initial indications indicate that there may be a number of individuals who have been injured, and videos that have been shared on social media have shown locals gathering at the area in horror.
Col. Engola was a high-ranking member of the administration who had previously held the position of deputy minister for defense.
In a brief announcement made while he was presiding over the morning session, the Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda stated that Col. Engola had passed away.
“I received the tragic news this morning that Hon. Engola had been shot by his bodyguard and then shot himself after that,” the reporter said. I pray that God may give his soul peace. That was the will of God all along. Anita Among told the members of parliament on Tuesday that there is nothing that can be changed.
As members of parliament are ready to hear an update on the controversy surrounding Sue Gray’s selection as Sir Keir Starmer’s new chief of staff, Sir Keir Starmer has stated that he is “confident” that Sue Gray “hasn’t broken any of the rules” over the matter.
Today, the Cabinet Office is scheduled to provide the House of Commons with a written statement that will shed more light on the circumstances surrounding the former senior civil servant’s decision to quit her position at Whitehall in favor of a job with the Labour party.
We never spoke while she investigated Boris Johnson.
It is anticipated that the report will indicate that Ms. Gray engaged in covert communication with Sir Keir while she was working for the team at the Cabinet Office that was advising the investigation into the partygate scandal in the Commons.
A source close to Labour emphasized that the incoming chief of staff for the party had absolutely nothing to do with the investigation’s ongoing work while she was in communication with the party’s leader.
This morning, Sir Keir gave an interview to BBC Breakfast in which he said, “First of all, I had no discussions with her while she was investigating Boris Johnson at all.” There is no indication that anyone believes that to be the case, as far as I can tell.
It is my firm belief that she has not disobeyed any of the regulations. When a senior civil servant leaves their position in the government, there is usually a process that they have to go through before they may begin working in a different field. That is the procedure that she is currently undergoing, and it is entirely appropriate… In point of fact, there is not a whole lot of new information regarding this today.”
Taiwan’s foreign minister warned the self-governing island will battle China alone and is unsure of its allies.
China claims Taiwan as its own land, to be conquered by force if necessary, and tensions are escalating.
Joseph Wu told Sky News Australia last Friday that Taiwan, with 23 million people compared to China’s 1.4 billion, must protect itself and not expect others to do so.
Wu replied, “This is a very good question.”
“A lot of people are debating strategic ambiguity or strategic clarity, but to us, we know our own responsibility,” Wu told the Taipei news station.
“Taiwan has to defend itself, the people have to defend Taiwan, this country,”
Although U.S. policy is unclear, President Joe Biden has repeatedly said American forces would defend Taiwan.
Taiwan’s foreign minister doesn’t know which nations will aid it in a conflict with China.
In March, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles claimed his country had not promised to back the US in any potential Taiwan battle as part of an arrangement to buy American nuclear-powered submarines.
In response to China’s expanding influence in the Indo-Pacific, Biden and the leaders of Australia and the UK announced that Australia will buy nuclear-powered attack submarines from the U.S.
Australian critics of the arrangement claim that the US would not hand over five Virginia-class submarines without assurances that they would be ready in a fight with China over Taiwan.
Wu replied, “I certainly hope not.”
“The reason is very clear: War means devastation, not just for the one who got attacked but possibly also for other countries,” Wu added.
“And therefore, at this moment, even though we see that the tension has been rising and the conflict seems more likely and peace is less likely to maintain, we need to do everything to prevent war,” he said.
Wu said Taiwan is maintaining de facto independence without a formal declaration. Taiwan became independent four years after Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist administration fled to the island to avoid Mao Zedong’s Communist takeover.
Taiwan has maintained its international presence while being politically and militarily isolated by Beijing.
Despite lacking diplomatic relations, Taiwan’s closest military and political ally is the U.S. U.S. military have been increasing their presence in Asia, most recently in the Philippines, to prepare for future warfare.
The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said China launched 38 fighter jets and other airplanes near Taiwan as part of a harassment and intimidation campaign on Friday.
That was the largest flight display since a large military exercise that simulated sealing off the island after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met on April 5. China opposes official Taiwan-other government contacts.
Taiwan has revitalized its local defense sectors, overhauled training, and extended compulsory national service for all men from four months to one year while purchasing military gear from the U.S. with an estimated $19 billion of equipment on backorder. Taiwan’s goal is to delay Chinese forces until outside support arrives.
“We’re trying to prevent war, and I think a lot of responsible members of the international community, especially the like-minded partners of Taiwan, like the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada and etc., we are all doing everything we can to prevent war,” Wu said.
