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page 33 SOUTH AFRICA Opposition MPs expelled for heckling Zuma A brawl broke out in the South African parliament on Tuesday as security officers were ordered to forcibly remove opposition MPs. Several punches were thrown as the left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) were expelled after trying to stop President Jacob Zuma speaking. In March, a […]

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SOUTH AFRICA

Opposition MPs expelled for heckling Zuma

A brawl broke out in the South African parliament on Tuesday as security officers were ordered to forcibly remove opposition MPs.

Several punches were thrown as the left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) were expelled after trying to stop President Jacob Zuma speaking.

In March, a court ruled Mr Zuma violated the constitution by failing to pay back public money used on his mansion.

It is the second brawl in parliament this month. Security guards were ordered by the speaker to eject the people who were being disruptive.

Guards surrounded the EFF MPs who were dressed in their trademark red boiler suits.

Objects, including bottles of water and a hard hat, were thrown as the guards tried to wrestle the MPs out of the chamber.

The EFF has denounced Mr Zuma as an “illegitimate” ruler who should step down.

IRAQ

Suicide bombings in Baghdad leave 70 dead

At least 72 people were killed and more than 140 wounded by three bombings in Baghdad on Tuesday, police and medical sources said, extending the deadliest spate of attacks in the Iraqi capital so far this year.

Islamic State claimed one suicide bombing which killed 38 people and wounded over 70 in a marketplace in the northern, mainly Shi’ite Muslim district of al-Shaab.

A car bomb in nearby Shi’ite Sadr City killed at least 28 dead and 57 wounded, and another car blew up in the mixed Shi’ite-Sunni neighborhood of al-Rasheed, south of the capital, killing six and wounding 21, the sources said.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered the arrest of the security official in charge of al-Shaab’s security after the attack, Abadi’s office said in a statement, without giving a reason for the detention.

Attacks claimed by IS in and around the city last week killed more than 100 people, the highest death toll in so few days so far this year, sparking anger and street protests over the government’s failure to ensure security.

SYRIA

World powers vow to bolster truce, deliver aid

World powers have agreed to try to turn the crumbling partial truce in Syria into a more comprehensive ceasefire.

The International Syria Support Group (ISSG) warned that the unravelling of the 11-week cessation of hostilities could lead to a return to all-out war.

Those persistently breaching the truce could be excluded from it.

The ISSG also said that from June the UN would begin air drops of aid for all areas in need if ground access to besieged areas continued to be denied.

Diplomats want to encourage the opposition to resume indirect negotiations on a political settlement to end the five-year conflict, which has killed more than 250,000 people.

Opposition representatives suspended their participation in the last round in April in protest at mounting violence and stalled aid deliveries.

UNITED STATES

Senate passes bill allowing Sept. 11 victims to sue S/Arabia

The U.S. Senate passed legislation on Tuesday that would allow victims of the Sept. 11 attacks to file lawsuits seeking damages from Saudi Arabia, setting up a potential showdown with the White House, which has threatened a veto.

The Saudis, who deny responsibility for the 2001 attacks, strongly object to the bill and have threatened to sell up to $750 billion in U.S. securities and other American assets in retaliation if it becomes law.

The “Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act,” or JASTA, passed the Senate by unanimous voice vote. It must next be taken up by the U.S. House of Representatives, where no vote has yet been scheduled.

If it became law, JASTA would remove the sovereign immunity, preventing lawsuits against governments, for countries found to be involved in terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.

It would allow survivors of the attacks, and relatives of those killed in the attacks, to seek damages from other countries.

EGYPT

President backs French proposal for Mideast talks

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said Tuesday that Egypt’s relations with Israel, rooted in a landmark 1979 peace treaty, can only be “warmer” if his country’s former enemy reached a settlement with the Palestinians and pledged that Cairo would “make every effort” toward a solution.

The Egyptian leader also declared his support for a French proposal to hold a Mideast peace conference, an idea already rejected by Israel, citing it along with U.S. efforts, a 2002 Arab peace plan and the international Mideast peace quartet as possible avenues to such a settlement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed el-Sissi’s “willingness to invest every effort to advance a future of peace and security between us and the Palestinians.”

Israel, he said in a statement, was ready to join Egypt and other Arab states in “advancing the peace process and stability in the region.”

LEBANON

Central bank says must comply with U.S. Hezbollah law

Lebanon’s central bank governor said on Tuesday Lebanese banks must comply with a new U.S. law targeting Shi’ite group Hezbollah’s finances and that failure to do so risked international isolation of the country’s banking sector.

Heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah, which is classified as a terrorist group by the United States, wields enormous political influence in Lebanon and its powerful military wing is playing a major role in the Syrian conflict.

The U.S. Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act (HIFPA) passed in December threatens sanctions against anyone who finances Hezbollah in a significant way.

The law has ignited an unprecedented dispute between Hezbollah and a central bank widely seen as a pillar of stability in an otherwise weak and dysfunctional Lebanese state.

Governor Riad Salameh said banks must comply with the law but that decisions to close accounts would be overseen by the central bank to ensure that the closures were justified.

KENYA

Police accused of ‘gruesome violence’ in Nairobi

A leading rights group has accused Kenyan police of using “gruesome violence” to break up an opposition protest in the capital on Monday.

Protesters were beaten up even after being “subdued”, said the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.

Kenya’s police chief said officers intervened to curb “lawlessness”, but an internal inquiry would be held to look into the allegations against them.

The opposition called the protest to demand electoral reforms.

Church leaders appealed for calm, saying next year’s general election should not lead to death and destruction.

A group of 15 opposition supporters pleaded guilty in court on Tuesday to taking part in the illegal protest in Nairobi, the capital.

MYANMAR

Myanmar takes legal action against protesters

Myanmar police have begun legal action against five protesters over a weekend rally intended to promote religious tolerance.

The move came as rights groups raise concerns about efforts by the new pro-democracy government to amend draconian laws on demonstrations.

Several activists and students marched through Yangon on Saturday in a rare gesture of religious solidarity in the diverse nation, where rising Buddhist nationalism has stoked anti-Muslim sentiment and sporadic bouts of bloodshed in recent years.

Police said they decided to take action against five rally leaders – believed to be three women and two men of several faiths – because the campaigners had deviated from the agreed protest route.

MAURITIUS

Mauritius threatens to take UK to court over Chagos Islands

Mauritian Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth has threatened to take the UK to the International Court of Justice over the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands.

He told parliament in Port Louis that the UK must tell Mauritius by the end of June when it will return the archipelago, otherwise it will go to court.

The islands were part of Mauritius until 1965, which was at the time a British territory.

Britain then made it a separate territory, expelled the islanders and allowed the US to set up a naval base on one of the islands – Diego Garcia.

Sir Anerood told parliament: “The British pretend to be freedom lovers but their philosophy is might is right.”

CANADA

Wildfire: Canada oil workers urged to flee blaze

Around 12,000 people have been urged to leave Canada’s oil sands camps near the fire-hit town of Fort McMurray as a resurgent wildfire heads towards them.

A regional official said 8,000 people were given precautionary evacuation orders late on Monday, in addition to some 4,000 who had already been advised to leave.

More than 80,000 people fled the fire that hit Fort McMurray two weeks ago. Air pollution in the Alberta city is still at dangerously high levels.

A reading on Monday found the level to be 38 – far exceeding the provincial index’s most dangerous level of 10.