Tag Archives: MTVID

Business

Kim Kardashian pays $1.26 million fine for paid crypto ad, SEC says

Leave a comment

WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuters) – Kim Kardashian has promoted everything from appetite-suppressing lollipops to melon-flavored liqueur to toilet paper, but it was her foray into the murky world of cryptocurrencies that got her into hot water.

The reality television star and influencer has agreed to settle charges of unlawfully touting a crypto security and to pay $1.26 million in penalties and fees, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday.

Kardashian, who has 330 million followers on Instagram and 73.7 million followers on Twitter, failed to disclose that she was paid $250,000 by crypto company EthereumMax to publish an Instagram post about its EMAX tokens, the SEC said.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

The SEC in November 2017 warned celebrities looking to cash in on the emerging digital asset space that U.S. rules require they disclose when they are being paid to endorse crypto tokens.

Since then it has pursued a handful of other celebrities, including action film star Steven Seagal, music producer “DJ Khaled” and boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. for breaking that rule, but Kardashian is arguably the most high profile. read more

Her post contained a link to the EthereumMax website, which provided instructions for potential investors to purchase EMAX tokens. “Sharing what my friends just told me about the EthereumMax token!” the post read.

Under U.S. law, people who tout a certain stock or crypto security need to disclose not only that they are getting paid to do so, but also the amount, the source and the nature of those payments, SEC Chair Gary Gensler said on Monday.

“This was really to protect the investing public – when somebody is touting that stock and whether that’s a celebrity or an influencer or the like, and that’s at the core of what this is about,” Gensler said in an interview with CNBC.

Kim Kardashian arrives on the red carpet for the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington, U.S., April 30, 2022. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

“I want to acknowledge Miss Kardashian cooperating and ongoing cooperation. We really appreciate that,” Gensler added.

Kardashian has agreed to pay the charge without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings. Her lawyer Michael Rhodes said Kardashian was pleased to have resolved the case.

“She wanted to get this matter behind her to avoid a protracted dispute. The agreement she reached with the SEC allows her to do that so that she can move forward with her many different business pursuits,” Rhodes said in a statement.

ONGOING LAWSUIT

Kardashian is also named, along with boxer Mayweather and former basketball star Paul Pierce, in an ongoing lawsuit filed in January by investors who allege they suffered losses after the celebrities promoted EMAX. read more

EMAX tokens have declined around 98% since June 13, 2021, when Kardashian posted about them on Instagram to her then 225 million followers, according to the website CoinMarketCap.com.

Last month, Kardashian, who has expanded her footprint in the world of finance, launched a new private equity firm focused on investing in consumer and media businesses.

Regulating cryptocurrency markets has been high on the SEC chair’s agenda this year, as prices of digital assets suffer wild swings due to heightened recession fears, rising interest rates and geopolitical turmoil. read more read more

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington, Manya Saini in Bengaluru; additional reporting by John McCrank in New York; Editing by Louise Heavens, Alexander Smith and Aurora Ellis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

Brazil election enters runoff as Bolsonaro dashes Lula’s hope of quick win

Leave a comment

SAO PAULO/BRASILIA, Oct 3 (Reuters) – The second round of Brazil’s presidential campaign kicked off Monday after right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro outperformed polling and robbed leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of an outright victory in the first round of voting.

The unexpectedly strong showing by Bolsonaro on Sunday dashed hopes for a quick resolution to the deeply polarized election in the world’s fourth-largest democracy.

With 99.9% of electronic votes counted, Lula had taken 48.4% of votes versus 43.2% for Bolsonaro. As neither got a majority of support, the race goes to a runoff vote on Oct. 30.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

The race has proven tighter than most surveys suggested, revitalizing Bolsonaro’s campaign after he insisted that polls could not be trusted. If he pulls off a comeback, it would break with a wave of victories for leftists across the region in recent years, including Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Chile.

Adding to tensions in Brazil, Bolsonaro has made baseless attacks on the integrity of Brazil’s electronic voting system and suggested he may not concede if he loses. On Sunday night, he sounded confident victory was within reach and avoided criticism of the voting system.

“I plan to make the right political alliances to win this election,” he told journalists, pointing to significant advances his party made in Congress in the general election.

Bolsonaro’s right-wing allies won 19 of the 27 seats up from grabs in the Senate, and initial returns suggested a strong showing for his base in the lower house.

The strong showing for Bolsonaro and his allies, which added to pressure on Lula to tack to the center, led bankers and analysts to expect a boost for Brazilian financial markets on Monday after Sunday’s surprising result.

Lula put an optimistic spin on the result, saying he was looking forward to another month on the campaign trail and the chance to debate Bolsonaro head-to-head.

Inside his campaign, however, there was clear frustration that he had fallen short of the narrow majority forecast in some polls, along with weak results in state races outside of his party’s traditional northeastern stronghold.

“There was a clear movement of votes in the southeast, beyond what the surveys and even the campaign managed to detect,” a campaign source said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Support for distant third- and fourth-place finishers also fell short of recent surveys, suggesting some of their backers may have shifted to Bolsonaro when it came time to vote.

Centrist Senator Simone Tebet, who got 4% of votes, and center-left former lawmaker Ciro Gomes, who got 3%, both said on Sunday night they would announce decisions about endorsements in the coming days.

With the momentum in Bolsonaro’s favor, Lula may need all the help he can get.

“Clearly Bolsonarismo was underestimated,” said Senator Humberto Costa, a compatriot of Lula’s Workers Party.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu in Sao Paulo and Maria Carolina Marcello in Brasilia
Additional repoting by Eduardo Simoes in Sao Paulo and Ricardo Brito in Brasilia
Writing by Anthony Boadle. Editing by Gerry Doyle

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

Iran riot police clash with students protesting young woman’s death

Leave a comment

DUBAI, Oct 2 (Reuters) – Iranian security forces clashed with students at a prominent university in Tehran on Sunday, social and state media reported, in the latest sign of a deadly clampdown on nationwide protests that were ignited by the death in custody of a young woman.

The anti-government protests, which began at 22-year-old Mahsa Amini’s funeral on Sept. 17 in the Kurdish town of Saqez, have spiralled into the biggest show of opposition to Iran’s authorities in years, with many calling for the end of more than four decades of Islamic clerical rule.

Activist Twitter account 1500tasvir, which has around 160,000 followers, posted several videos showing Sharif University, traditionally a hotbed of dissent, surrounded by dozens of riot police.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

One of the videos showed security forces firing teargas to drive the students off the campus and the sound of what appeared to be shooting at a distance could be heard.

Another video showed security forces chasing dozens of students trapped in the university’s underground parking. The account said dozens of students had been arrested.

Iranian state media described “reports of clashes” at the university and said the country’s science minister visited the campus to check on the situation.

Reuters could not independently verify the events at the university.

Students had been protesting at numerous universities on Sunday and demonstrations were held in several cities such as Tehran, Yazd, Kermanshah, Sanandaj, Shiraz and Mashhad, with participants chanting “independence, freedom, death to Khamenei,” earlier social media posts showed.

The protests have not abated despite a growing death toll and the crackdown by security forces using tear gas, clubs, and in some cases, according to videos on social media and rights groups, live ammunition.

Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based group, in a statement said that “so far 133 people had been killed across Iran”, including more than 40 people it said died in clashes last week in Zahedan, capital of the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province.

Iranian authorities have not given a death toll, while saying many members of the security forces have been killed by “rioters and thugs backed by foreign foes”. Last week state television said 41 had died, including members of the security forces.

Iran’s utmost authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not commented on the nationwide protests, which have spread to Iran’s 31 provinces, with all layers of society, including ethnic and religious minorities, taking part.

Amini’s death and the crackdown have drawn international criticism of Iran’s rulers, who in turn accuse the United States and some European countries of exploiting the unrest to try to destabilise the Islamic Republic.

Iranian state media shared a video of pro-government students, who gathered at the Ferdowsi university in Mashhad, chanting “the Islamic Republic is our red line”.

Earlier on Sunday, Iranian lawmakers chanted “thank you, police” during a parliament session, in a show of support for a crackdown on widespread anti-government protests.

DEATH IN COMA

Amini was arrested on Sept. 13 in Tehran for “unsuitable attire” by the morality police who enforce the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. She died three days later in hospital after falling into a coma.

The lawyer for Amini’s family, Saleh Nikbakht, told the semi-official Etemadonline news website that “respectable doctors” believe she was hit in custody. Amini’s autopsy report and other medical details have not been released, but her father said he saw bruises on her leg and that other women detained with her said she was beaten.

Iran’s police authorities say Amini died of a heart attack and deny she was beaten to death in custody.

The country’s hardline President Ebrahim Raisi has ordered an investigation into Amini’s death. He said last week that a forensic report would be presented in “coming days”.

Amnesty International on Friday reported that hundreds were injured and thousands have been arrested in the protests.

State media said at least 20 people were killed in the Zahedan clashes, blaming a separatist group from the Baluchi minority for starting a shootout in the city.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

Pope begs Putin to end ‘spiral of violence and death’, fears nuclear war

Leave a comment

  • Pope says annexation risked nuclear escalation
  • Says he has been haunted by “rivers of blood and tears”
  • Most direct appeal to Putin since invasion in February
  • Vatican official compares it to days of Cuban missile crisis

VATICAN CITY, Oct 2 (Reuters) – Pope Francis for the first time directly begged Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the “spiral of violence and death” in Ukraine, saying on Sunday that the crisis was risking a nuclear escalation with uncontrollable global consequences.

In an address dedicated to Ukraine and made to thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square, Francis also condemned Putin’s latest annexation of parts of Ukraine as being against international law. He urged Putin to think of his own people in the event of an escalation.

One Vatican official said the impassioned address was so sombre it was reminiscent of a radio peace appeal by Pope John XXIII in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

It was the first time Francis, who has often condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the death and destruction it has caused, had made such a direct personal appeal to Putin.

Saying he was haunted by “rivers of blood and tears that have been spilled in these months,” Francis also called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to be open to any “serious peace proposal”.

He was making an urgent appeal “in the name of God” for an end to the conflict and said it was “absurd” that the world was risking a nuclear conflict.

“My appeal goes above all to the president of the Russian Federation, begging him to stop this spiral of violence and death, even out of love for his own people,” Francis said.

“On the other side, pained by the enormous suffering of the Ukrainian population following the aggression it suffered, I address an equally hopeful appeal to the president of Ukraine to be open to a serious peace proposal,” he said.

Francis later tweeted both the appeals to the two leaders in Russian and Ukrainian.

Speaking two days after Putin proclaimed the annexation of nearly a fifth of Ukraine and placed the regions under Russia’s nuclear umbrella, Francis also emphasised all countries’ right to “sovereign and territorial integrity”.

Kyiv and its Western allies have condemned Putin’s annexations as illegal, and Zelenskiy has said his forces will continue their fight to recapture all Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian forces.

Ukraine on Sunday claimed full control of the eastern logistics hub of Lyman, Kyiv’s most significant battlefield gain in weeks.

“I strongly deplore the grave situation that has been created in the last few days, with more actions that are contrary to the principles of international law,” he said in a clear reference to the annexation.

“This, in fact, increases the risk of an nuclear escalation to the point of fearing uncontrollable and catastrophic consequences on a global level,” he said.

In a reference to ethnic Russians living in Ukraine, Francis said it was also necessary to respect “the rights of minorities and (their) legitimate worries”.

Francis said it was “anguishing” that the world was learning about Ukrainian geography through names of places such as Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol, Izium, Zaporizhzhia and other places where people had suffered “indescribable suffering and fear”.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Reporting by Philip Pullella
Editing by Gareth Jones and Raissa Kasolowsky

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

UK’s Truss tries to reassure on economic plan

Leave a comment

  • Defends economic plan, saying it is right
  • Also tries to reassure
  • Says Kwarteng made decision on high tax rate

BIRMINGHAM, England, Oct 2 (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Liz Truss tried to reassure her party and the public on Sunday by saying she should have done more to “lay the ground” for an economic plan that saw the pound fall to record lows and government borrowing costs soar.

On the first day of her governing Conservative Party’s annual conference, Truss, in office for less than a month, adopted a softer tone by saying she would support the public during a difficult winter and beyond.

She defended her “growth plan”, a package of tax-cutting measures that investors and many economists have criticised for setting out billions of pounds of spending while offering few details on how it would be paid for in the short term.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Truss said it was the right direction, suggesting critics did not realise the depth of Britain’s problems and that she should have done more to explain them — an argument that market traders and investors have dismissed as a reason for the falls in the pound and the increase in borrowing costs last week.

But in what some Conservative lawmakers worry will hurt their prospects at an election due in 2024, she did not deny that the plan would require spending cuts for public services and refused to commit to increasing welfare benefits in line with inflation while endorsing a tax cut for the wealthiest.

“I understand their worries about what has happened this week,” she told the BBC in the central English city of Birmingham.

“I do stand by the package we announced, and I stand by the fact that we announced it quickly because we had to act, but I do accept that we should have laid the ground better.”

Jake Berry, chairman of the Conservative Party, suggested the markets may have overreacted, while admitting he was not an economist. “So let’s see where the markets are in six months time,” he told Sky News.

TROUBLE AHEAD?

Truss took office on Sept. 6, but Queen Elizabeth died two days later and so the first days of the new prime minister’s term were largely taken up with the national mourning period, when politics was all but paused.

She launched her plan two weeks after taking office, with her team feeling she had signalled her plans during a leadership campaign against rival Rishi Sunak, who had argued against immediate tax cuts.

But the scale of the plan spooked markets. After a large sell-off, the pound has since recovered after Britain’s central bank, the Bank of England stepped in, but government borrowing costs remain markedly higher. Investors say the government will have to work hard to restore confidence.

Beyond the market reaction, Truss’s economic plan also raised alarm in the Conservative Party, particularly over the scrapping of the highest 45% level of income tax.

Some in the party fear they are at risk of being seen as “the nasty party”, cutting taxes for the wealthiest, while doing little to improve the lives of the most vulnerable.

One former minister, Michael Gove, who was long at the heart of government, hinted he would not vote for the abolition of the top tax when the economic plan comes before parliament and Andy Street, the Conservative mayor of Birmingham, said he would not have made that policy.

Truss said she supported the simplification of the tax system but added the decision on the top tax was taken by her finance minister, Kwasi Kwarteng.

When asked whether all of her cabinet of top ministers had been told in advance, Truss said: “No, we didn’t, this was a decision that the chancellor made.”

She also suggested that politicians spent too much time worrying about how their policies were received by the public, saying she was focused on driving growth. Truss has often said she is not scared of making unpopular decisions.

“I do think there has been too much focus in politics on the optics or how things look,” she said.

But she struggled when pressed to answer whether scrapping some taxes would have to be paid for with cuts to public services. Rather than denying this, she said she wanted the best possible services, which offer taxpayers value for money.

“I am going to make sure we get value for money for the taxpayer, but I am very, very committed to making sure we have excellent frontline public services.”

Further reading:

How the Bank of England threw markets a lifeline

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Andrew MacAskill
Editing by Gareth Jones and Frances Kerry

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

Stampede, riot at Indonesia football match kill 174, league suspended

Leave a comment

  • East Java stadium disaster apparently worst since 1964
  • Around 180 injured during crowd stampede
  • Indonesia football association suspends league to investigate
  • Police say they fired tear gas to control crowd

MALANG, Indonesia, Oct 2 (Reuters) – At least 174 people were killed and 180 injured in a stampede and riot at a soccer match in Indonesia, officials said on Sunday, in one of the world’s worst stadium disasters.

When frustrated supporters of the losing home team invaded the pitch in Malang in the province of East Java late on Saturday, officers fired tear gas in an attempt to control the situation, triggering the stampede and cases of suffocation, East Java police chief Nico Afinta told reporters.

“It had gotten anarchic. They started attacking officers, they damaged cars,” Nico said, adding that the crush occurred when fans fled for an exit gate.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Video footage from local news channels showed fans streaming onto the pitch after Arema FC lost 3-2 to Persebaya Surabaya around 10 p.m. (1500 GMT). Scuffles can be seen, with what appeared to be tear gas in the air.

Images showed people who appeared to have lost consciousness being carried away by other fans.

The head of one of the hospitals in the area treating patients told Metro TV that some of the victims had sustained brain injuries and that the fatalities included a five-year-old child.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said authorities must thoroughly evaluate security at matches, adding that he hoped this would be “the last soccer tragedy in the nation.”

Jokowi, as the president is known, ordered the Football Association of Indonesia to suspend all games in the Indonesian top league BRI Liga 1 until an investigation had been completed.

TEAR GAS RULES, OVERCAPACITY

World soccer’s governing body FIFA specifies in its safety regulations that no firearms or “crowd control gas” should be carried or used by stewards or police.

East Java police did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether they were aware of such regulations.

FIFA has requested a report on the incident from Indonesia’s PSSI football association, and a PSSI team has been sent to Malang to investigate, PSSI secretary general Yunus Nusi told reporters.

Indonesia’s human rights commission also plans to investigate security at the ground, including the use of tear gas, its commissioner told Reuters.

Fans invade the soccer field after a match between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya at Kanjuruhan Stadium, Malang, Indonesia Oct 2, 2022 in this screen grab taken from a REUTERS video. REUTERS TV via REUTERS

“Many of our friends lost their lives because of the officers who dehumanised us,” said Muhammad Rian Dwicahyono, 22, crying, as he nursed a broken arm at the local Kanjuruhan hospital. “Many lives have been wasted.”

On Sunday mourners gathered outside the gates of the stadium to lay flowers for the victims.

Amnesty International Indonesia slammed the security measures, saying the “use of excessive force by the state … to contain or control such crowds cannot be justified at all”.

The country’s chief security minister, Mahfud MD, said in an Instagram post that the stadium had been filled beyond its capacity. He said 42,000 tickets had been issued for a stadium that is only supposed to hold 38,000 people.

Many victims at Kanjuruhan hospital suffered from trauma, shortness of breath and a lack of oxygen due to the large number of people at the scene affected by tear gas, said paramedic Boby Prabowo.

WORST IN HALF CENTURY

Financial aid would be given to the injured and the families of victims, East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa told reporters.

There have been outbreaks of trouble at matches in Indonesia before, with strong rivalries between clubs sometimes leading to violence among supporters.

Indonesia’s football scene has been blighted by hooliganism, heavy-handed policing and mismanagement, largely preventing the country of 275 million people who pack stadiums from harnessing its potential in the sport.

Zainudin Amali, Indonesia’s sports minister, told KompasTV the ministry would re-evaluate safety at football matches, including considering not allowing spectators in stadiums.

The Malang stadium disaster appeared to be the deadliest since 1964, when 328 people were reported dead in a riot and crush when Peru hosted Argentine at the Estadio Nacional.

In an infamous 1989 British disaster, 96 Liverpool supporters were crushed to death when an overcrowded and fenced-in enclosure collapsed at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield.

Indonesia is scheduled to host the FIFA under-20 World Cup in May and June next year. They are also one of three countries bidding to stage next year’s Asian Cup, the continent’s equivalent of the Euros, after China pulled out as hosts.

The head of the Asian Football Confederation, Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said in a statement he was “deeply shocked and saddened to hear such tragic news coming out of football-loving Indonesia”, expressing condolences for the victims, their families and friends.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Reporting by Yuddy Cahya Budiman and Prasto Wardoyo in Malang, Stefanno Sulaiman and Stanley Widianto in Jakarta, and Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Writing by Kate Lamb; Editing by Ed Davies, William Mallard and Kim Coghill

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

Protesters rally across Iran in third week of unrest over Amini’s death

Leave a comment

  • Protests sparked by death in custody enter 3rd week
  • Reports of student arrests in Tehran, tear gas in Isfahan
  • Four members of security forces confirmed killed in southeast
  • Strikes reported across Kurdish regions

DUBAI, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Protesters rallied across Iran and strikes were reported throughout the country’s Kurdish region on Saturday as demonstrations ignited by the death of a woman in police custody entered their third week.

The protests, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old from Iranian Kurdistan, have spiralled into the biggest show of opposition to Iran’s clerical authorities since 2019, with dozens killed in unrest across the country.

People also demonstrated in London, Rome, Madrid and other Western cities in solidarity with Iranian protesters, holding pictures of Amini, who died three days after being arrested by the Islamic Republic’s morality police for “unsuitable attire”.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

In Iran, social media posts showed rallies in large cities including Tehran, Isfahan, Rasht and Shiraz.

In Tehran’s traditional business district of Bazaar, anti-government protesters chanted “We will be killed one by one if we don’t unite”, while elsewhere they blocked a main road with a fence torn from the central reservation, videos shared by the widely followed Tavsir1500 Twitter account showed.

Students also demonstrated at numerous universities. At Tehran University, dozens were detained, Tavsir1500 said. The semi-official Fars news agency said some protesters were arrested in a square near the university.

A video posted on social media appeared to show protesters giving flowers to members of the riot police in Tehran, a recreation of Iranians winning over the military to their side in the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Reuters could not verify the social media reports.

The protests began at Amini’s funeral on Sept. 17 and spread to Iran’s 31 provinces, with all layers of society, including ethnic and religious minorities, taking part and many demanding Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s downfall.

HUNDREDS INJURED

Amnesty International has said a government crackdown on demonstrations has so far led to the death of at least 52 people, with hundreds injured. Rights groups say dozens of activists, students and artists have been detained.

In London, about 2,500 people, many of them Iranians, staged a noisy protest in Trafalgar Square. In Paris, a crowd of several dozen people held Iranian flags and pictures of victims who have died in the protests. In Madrid, an Iranian woman cut her hair during a protest attended by dozens of people, echoing demonstrations in Iran where women have also been waving and burning their veils during demonstrations.

Iran’s currency neared historic lows reached in June as desperate Iranians bought dollars to protect their savings, amid little hope Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers would be revived and concerns over the economic consequences of the unrest.

The rial fell to 331,200 per U.S. dollar, compared with 321,200 on Friday, according to the foreign exchange site Bonbast.com. The currency had plummeted to an all-time low of 332,000 per dollar on June 12.

Iranian authorities say many members of the security forces have been killed, accusing the United States of exploiting the unrest to try to destabilise Iran.

The Revolutionary Guards said four members of its forces and the volunteer Basij militia were killed on Friday in attacks in Zahedan, capital of the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province.

ZAHEDAN SHOOTOUT

State television had said on Friday that 19 people, including members of the security forces, had been killed in Zahedan after unidentified individuals opened fire on a police station, prompting security forces to return fire.

Authorities blamed a separatist group from the Baluchi minority for starting the shootout in Zahedan. State media said two prominent militants linked to that group had been killed.

IRNA posted a video showing destroyed cars, an overturned and burning trailer or bus and fires in burnt-out buildings and shops, describing it as footage of “what the terrorists did to people’s shops last night in Zahedan”.

Reuters could not verify the footage.

Protests have been particularly intense in Iran’s Kurdistan region, where authorities have previously put down unrest by the Kurdish minority numbering up to 10 million.

Shops and businesses were on strike in 20 northwestern cities and towns in protest against attacks on Iraq-based armed Kurdish opposition parties by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the Kurdish rights group Hengaw reported.

Fearing an ethnic uprising, and in a show of power, Iran launched rocket and drone attacks on targets in Iraq’s Kurdish region this week after accusing Iranian Kurdish dissidents of being involved in the unrest.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported new attacks by the Revolutionary Guards on Iraqi Kurdistan on Saturday.

A senior member of Komala, an exiled Iranian Kurdish opposition party, told Reuters that two party offices in Halgurd mountain in Iraq’s Erbil were struck in Iranian shelling.

A Kurdish security official said Iranian artillery also shelled Choman district in Erbil.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Additional reporting by Ali Sultan in Sulaimaniya; Christian Hartmann and Anthony Panone in Paris and Yann Tessier in London, Marco Trujillo and Elena Rodriguez in Madrid; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Nick Macfie and David Holmes

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

Russia’s Ukraine invasion is backdrop to election in Latvia

Leave a comment

VILNIUS, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Latvians were voting on Saturday in a parliamentary election, with opinion polls predicting that Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins’s centre-right New Unity party will win the most votes, enabling him to continue his coalition with the conservative National Alliance.

A victory for Karins could widen a growing rift between the Latvian majority and Latvia’s Russian-speaking minority over their place in society following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“I’m ready to continue being the prime minister, if that’s what the people say,” Karins told reporters in Riga on Saturday.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Polls close at 8 p.m. (1700 GMT), with an exit poll released immediately afterwards. Results were expected by midnight (2100 GMT).

The first Latvian head of government to survive a full four-year term, surveys show Karins benefitting from driving the country’s hawkish stance against Russia amid widespread national anger over the invasion of Ukraine.

The election campaign was dominated by questions of national identity and security concerns, while urgent issues including soaring energy costs and high inflation were largely pushed aside.

Election campaign poster depicting parliament member candidates from different political parties are seen in Jelgava, Latvia September 28, 2022. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

Karins told Reuters on Tuesday he believes the war in Ukraine has consolidated his NATO and European Union nation of 1.9 million. He said that if re-elected, he would integrate the Russian minority – a quarter of population – by having the country educate its children in the Latvian language.

“We’re putting all of our focus on the youth, to make sure that regardless of what language is spoken at home, that the child grows up with all of the advantages of knowing our language, knowing our culture”, he said.

Before Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, tens of thousands of Russian speakers in Latvia used to gather every May 9 around a monument in Riga to commemorate the Soviet victory against Nazi Germany in World War Two.

Their gatherings were banned after the invasion and the 84-metre (275-foot) structure in the centre of the capital was demolished on orders from the government – which is dominated by ethnic Latvians and would prefer to bury the memories of the country being part of the former Soviet Union up to 1991.

Popular TV broadcasts from Russia have been banned and the state language board has proposed renaming a central Riga street commemorating Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. Karins’ government has put forward plans to switch all education to Latvian and to swiftly phase out instruction in Russian.

The social democrat Harmony party, traditionally backed by Latvia’s Russian-speaking minority, received 19.8% of votes in the 2018 elections and became the largest opposition party in parliament. However, the latest opinion polls showed 7.3% support for Harmony.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius and Janis Laizans in Riga
Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Frances Kerry

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

Burkina Faso junta leader urges calm after gunshots raise coup fears

Leave a comment

OUAGADOUGOU, Sept 30 (Reuters) – Burkina Faso’s military leader said he was in talks to restore calm on Friday after gunfire and a blast in the capital raised fears of a second coup in eight months.

Soldiers and military vehicles took to the deserted streets of Ouagadougou after dawn on Friday, cutting off access to administrative buildings.

By mid-morning, the city, usually buzzing with motorbikes and cars, was quiet. Schools, businesses and banks were shut. State television stopped broadcasting.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

It was not clear if the gunfire near a military base and the explosion were part of a coup attempt, but security sources say there has been frustration within the military at a lack of progress in combating Islamist militants.

Damiba, who took power in a coup in January, urged calm in a statement. Certain members of the armed forces overcome by “moods swings” had created a “confused situation,” he said.

His whereabouts are unknown.

The latest unrest bore the hallmarks of other power grabs that have swept across West and Central Africa over the past two years, undoing years of democratic progress.

The coups have been driven in part by violence committed by Islamist groups who have taken over large areas of northern Burkina Faso and parts of neighbouring Mali and Niger.

Civilian populations have cheered military juntas in the hope that they would be more successful at containing the insurgents than their democratically-elected predecessors.

“If successful, it would mark the sixth unconstitutional takeover in the Sahel in the past two years,” said Eric Humphery-Smith, Senior Africa Analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.

“If it isn’t, it’s still a damning indictment for the state of democracy in the region.”

As well as Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, and Guinea have all seen coups since 2020.

INSECURITY

Damiba’s takeover was largely celebrated by Burkinabe fed up with the inability of former President Roch Kabore’s government to rein in militants linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda.

Burkina Faso has become the epicentre of the violence that began in neighbouring Mali in 2012 and has spread across the Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert.

The militants have killed thousands of people in Burkina Faso in recent years.

Damiba had pledged to restore security but attacks have worsened. The army is in disarray and frustrated, security sources say.

Militants have blockaded areas of the north, leaving communities stranded. Government convoys and air drops deliver essential goods to trapped civilians.

This week, unknown assailants killed 11 soldiers in an attack on a convoy taking supplies to a town in northern Burkina Faso. Fifty civilians are missing. read more

Many cities and towns not under siege have seen their populations swell as people flee violence in the countryside.

Protests against the military took place across Burkina Faso this week to demand the government do more to improve the security situation. Much of the country has become ungovernable since 2018.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Writing by Edward McAllister, Bate Felix and Sofia Christensen, Editing by Angus MacSwan, William Maclean and Toby Chopra

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

Iran protests over young woman’s death continue, 83 said killed

Leave a comment

DUBAI, Sept 29 (Reuters) – Protests continued in several cities across Iran on Thursday against the death of young woman in police custody, state and social media reported, as a human rights group said at least 83 people had been killed in nearly two weeks of demonstrations.

Mahsa Amini, 22, from the Iranian Kurdish town of Saqez, was arrested this month in Tehran for “unsuitable attire” by the morality police that enforces the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.

Her death has sparked the first big show of opposition on Iran’s streets since authorities crushed protests against a rise in gasoline prices in 2019.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

“At least 83 people including children, are confirmed to have been killed in (the) #IranProtests,” Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based group, said on Twitter.

Despite the growing death toll and a fierce crackdown by authorities, videos posted on Twitter showed demonstrators calling for the fall of the clerical establishment in Tehran, Qom, Rasht, Sanandaj, Masjed-i-Suleiman and other cities.

State television said police had arrested a large number of “rioters”, without giving figures.

Rights groups said dozens of activists, students and artists have been detained and the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Twitter that it had learned that security forces had arrested at least 28 journalists as of Sept. 29.

Meanwhile, Germany’s foreign minister said on Thursday she wanted the European Union to impose sanctions on Iran following Amini’s death. read more

In Norway, several people attempted to enter the Iranian embassy in Oslo during an angry demonstration in which two people sustained light injuries, Norwegian police said. Police detained 95 people, public broadcaster NRK reported. read more

President Ebrahim Raisi said the unrest was the latest move by hostile Western powers against Iran since its Islamic revolution in 1979.

“The enemies have committed computational errors in the face of Islamic Iran for 43 years, imagining that Iran is a weak country that can be dominated,” Raisi said on state television.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Reporting by Dubai newsroom; editing by Jonathan Oatis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here