#CANADA: Parti Québécois Leader Vows New Seccession Vote For Quebec

[world politics news]

Quebecers will have one “ultimate” chance to prevent their language and culture from being “erased,” by voting Yes in another independence referendum sometime before 2030, the leader of the Parti Québécois said Sunday.

If the PQ takes power in the 2026 general election, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said, the party will move rapidly to organize another referendum — the third in Quebec history — because in his view the conditions for Quebec to become an independent country have never been clearer and Quebec’s status in Canada has never been bleaker.

He said the Province could be independent by 2030. The PQ was in power in 1980 when it held the first referendum on Quebec's place within Canada and whether Quebec should pursue a path toward sovereignty. 65% of Voters chose to stay within Canada.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#ANTIGUAANDBARBUDA: China Building Caribbean Outpost

[world politics news]

On a natural paradise on the island of Antigua, a large swath of land that's about to be razed for a Chinese-run special economic zone. According to documents reviewed by Newsweek, it will have its own customs and immigration formalities, a shipping port and a dedicated airline and will be able to issue passports. 

China's growing regional presence is potentially the greatest external challenge to the United States in the Americas since the Soviet Union set up in Cuba in the 1960s—and the U.S. military is concerned.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#NIGERIA: Ebonyi State Governor Slashes Univ. Fees, Raises Univ. Staff Wages

[world politics news]

Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State has slashed the tuition fees of the Ebonyi State University by 10 per cent.

Mr Nwifuru has also approved the increment of salaries of both academic and non-academic staff of the state-owned institution by 20 and 10 per cent, respectively.

Nwifuru, governor of Ebonyi State since 2023, previously served as speaker of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly from June 2015 to May 2023. He's also a lawyer.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#MALDIVES: Crucial Election Will Determine Relations With Chna, India, Votes In

[world politics news]

 
Polls have closed in the Maldives where voters have cast their ballots in a parliamentary election crucial for President Mohamed Muizzu, who has taken a pro-China stand and turned the archipelago nation away from longtime ally India since coming to power last September

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#INDIA: Opposition Accuses PM Modi Of "Hate Speech" In Election Year

[world politics news]

Indian opposition leaders have criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi's latest remarks, which they say were aimed at Muslims, a minority group in largely Hindu India.

Modi said the main opposition Congress Party wanted to distribute people's wealth to "infiltrators" and "those who have many children." Congress denies the accusation. India is in the middle of a 7-phase nation election.

He didn’t directly say he was talking about minorities, but added that the Congress Party believed Muslims had the first right over the nation's wealth. A former Congress Party PM said something similar to this while telling a Muslim crowd they were also entitled to the nation's wealth, too. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (PJP) leans Right, and is largely Hindu fundamentalist in character. 

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#INDIA: Largest Election Underway For New Parliament

[world politics news]

Indians bin voting today to choose their next parliament in the first of seven voting days that end on June 1. Nearly a billion people are eligible to cast their ballot.Prime Minister Narendra Modi is aiming for a rare third consecutive term in power.

Several key opposition parties, including the Congress, have formed an alliance in many states to take on Modi’s party. Main issues include a jobs crisis, rising prices, a crackdown on dissents and the opposition and the politics of religion. Results will be announced on June 4.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#GERMANY: Parliament Passes Law Making Gender, Name Changes On Official Docs Easier

[world politics news]

German lawmakers on Friday approved legislation that will make it easier for transgender, intersex and nonbinary people to change their name and gender in official records.

The “self-determination law,” one of several social reforms that Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Left-leaning coalition government pledged when it took office in late 2021, is set to take effect on Nov. 1.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SLOVAKIA: Pres. Fico Vows "Significant" Aid To Ukraine a For Removing Landmines

[world politics news]

Slovakia wants to assist Ukraine in the field of demining territories, particularly by providing relevant equipment, stated Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico during a press conference with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

"We discussed cooperation in the military sphere, where we offer significant assistance in demining. This includes specific demining machines. There is a great discussion here about special machines, agricultural machinery that can be used precisely for this purpose," noted Fico.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#BRAZIL: High Court Orders Some Twitter Accounts Blocked; Musk Defies

[world politics news]

At 5:52 pm Eastern Time, April 6, 2024, X corporation, formerly known as Twitter, announced that a Brazilian court had forced it to “block certain popular accounts in Brazil.” 

Then, less than one hour later, the owner of X, @ElonMusk announced that X would defy the court’s order, and lift all restrictions.

“As a result,” said Musk, “we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to shut down our office there. But principles matter more than profit.”

At any moment, Brazil’s Supreme Court could shut off all access to X/Twitter for the people of Brazil.

Musk attacked the judge in a post on X: "Those requests violate Brazilian law. This judge has brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil. He should resign or be impeached."

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#UK: Labour Party Loses Special Election

[world politics news]

The UK's Ruling Conservative Party has given Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Party a thumping in a by-election in Northamptonshire.

Jason Smithers, the Tory leader of North Northamptonshire Council, hailed the victory in the Desborough by-election as an "excellent" result for the local party.

According to media, the Conservatives gained 47.3 percent of the vote, a 7.5 percentage point rise, against Labour's 33.6 percent (a six percent rise). The Greens won 11.7 percent and the Liberal Democrat Party gatnered 7.4 percent.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

ISRAEL: Netanyahu Bans Aljazeera TV; Biden Condemns

[world politics news]

The Biden administration lashed out Monday, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled that he will ban Aljazeera, a Qatari government-controlled news channel, in Israel because of the lies it has told about the October 7 terrorist attack and because some of its journalists are said to have participated in the attack.

Israeli lawmakers in the Knesset passed a measure in a lopsided, 71-10 vote Monday, giving Netanyahu the authority to ban the organization.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#ISRAEL: High Court Rules Draft Deferrments For Seminary Students Must End

[world politics news]

Israel's High Court of Justice has issued an interim order barring the government from providing funds to ultra-Orthodox seminary students eligible for military enlistment — as the legal framework for deferring their military service will no longer exist.

A government resolution from June 2023 instructing the Israel Defense Force to temporarily not draft Orthodox seminary students despite the expiration of a law governing the matter will itself expire at midnight on March 31.

The controversy of student deferrals ending could break apart Netanyahu's wartime coalition, which consists of Orthodox political parties.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

CANADA: Population Boom Lowered Productivity, Says Bank Study

[world politics news]

As Ottawa overhauls its temporary immigration programs, a new analysis by Bank of Nova Scotia warns that the unchecked population surge of the past two years is behind two-thirds of the “massive” decline in productivity over the same time period.

The drop stems from a combination of two factors: chronically-low business investment in Canada and the sudden explosion in population, which grew by 1.25 million last year alone.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#UGANDA: Online Protest Targets Gov't Corruption

[world politics news]

Abuse of public funds. Failing hospitals. Potholes in the streets of Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

These and other issues feature in an online protest campaign that is rattling government officials and others in this East African country where street protests are practically outlawed — and where corruption is widespread and often deadly.

The campaign has been trending on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, as #UgandaParliamentExhibition. It relies on leaks of official documents and has been cast as an "exhibition" — in a sequence of postings — about controversial issues.

President Museveni, 79, Blames "foreigners and Western pro-gay activists" for criticism of the government, calling them "enemies of the people." Uganda has passed some of the most restrictive anti-gay laws in the world, drawing condemnation and causing homosexuals to literally flee for their lives. 

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#GERMANY: Russian Election "Not Legitimate;" Putin May Be Refered to As "Governor" of Russia

[world politics news]

The German government does not recognize the legitimacy of the Russian presidential election, German government’s spokesperson Christiane Hoffman has said.

“At the moment we don’t have a dialogue with Vladimir Putin, so it’s not a question right now,” she said, answering the question of how the authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany intend to call Putin by title – “president or governor”.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising
Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#CUBA: Protests Spread As Blackouts, Food Shortages Paralize Nation

[world politics news]

Cuba is "on the verge of total collapse" as the country has been hit by blackouts with residents taking to the streets calling for "food and power".

The crisis has seen the Cuban government approach the United Nations for aid to address its food shortage. As the Caribbean island goes through its harshest economic crisis in three decades, the communist regime is resorting to hitherto unseen cries for help to other countries.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SOUTHSUDAN: Gov't Shuts Schools, Gov't Offices Amid Heatwave; Blames West

[world politics news]

Blaming "climate change" and the West, Joseph Africano Bartel, undersecretary for Environment in the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, has announced the closure of schools and government businesses in this war-torn and poor African nation amid a severe heatwave. 

Yolanda Awel Deng, minister for Health, said heatwave like the current one hits cities the hardest, and reduce productivity. She urged people to remedying indoors as much as possible. She said the government is monitoring the situation for disease outbreaks.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#RUSSIA: Putin Wins Fifth Term in "Landslide"

[world politics news]

Vladimir Putin was always going to claim his fifth term as president with a landslide, faced with three other candidates all rubber-stamped by the Kremlin.

But when election officials said results gave him more than 87% of the vote, he said Russia's democracy was more transparent than many in the West.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#THENETHERLANDS: Wilders Says He Doesn't Have Support To Be PM... Yet

[world politics news]

Geert Wilders, whose anti-Islam, anti-immigration rhetoric swept his Party for Freedom to a stunning victory in the November election, said earlier this week that he doesn’t have the support of his prospective coalition partners to become the next Dutch prime minister.

Wilders took to X, formerly Twitter, to say that “I can only become premier if ALL parties in the coalition support that. That wasn’t the case.” Later, however, he took to X to say that one day, he will have enough support.

His coalition consists of 88 seats in the 150-seat parliament. His Freedom Party continues to gain support in the polls.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

USA: Sen. Schumer's Anti-Netanyahu Speech Stuns Israel

[world politics news]

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) speech calling for a new government in Israel landed like an earthquake Thursday, delivering a huge shock to the already tense U.S.-Israel relationship.

In addition to being the most senior Jewish elected official in the country, Schumer has had one of the longest and closest relationships with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of any U.S. politician.

Schumer's speech, calling for new elections in Israel, stunned officials and observers in both Washington and Jerusalem because he has been the Democratic Party's most avid supporter of Israel in decades.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#CROATIA: Parliament Dissolved Ahead of National Election

[world politics news] 

  

 Croatia's parliament has been dissolved to pave the way for a parliamentary election later this year.

All 143 of a total of 151 lawmakers who were present at the session voted in favor of the move.

The date of the election is yet to be set. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has suggested it should be held before the vote for the European Parliament, which will be held on June 6-9.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#IRELAND: Voters Reject 2 Referenda Questions In Defeat for PM

[world politics news]

Voters in the Republic of Ireland have overwhelmingly voted against amending the Irish Constitution.

Proposals to alter wording in the constitution to include families which are not based on marriage were defeated with 67.7% voting 'no'.

A second proposed change on the wording around the role of women in the home was defeated by a higher margin with 73.9% of voters rejecting it.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SWITZERLAND: Voters Approve Pension Raise

[world politics news]

Swiss voters backed a plan to raise pensions, the first time in the country’s history that social benefits got an increase via plebiscite.

The proposal to introduce a 13th annual payout to pensioners was supported by 58.2% of the electorate and also met the additional requirement of being passed in the majority of Switzerland’s cantons. A second initiative to raise the retirement age — and subsequently tie it to life expectancy — was rejected, garnering only 25.3% of votes.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

IRAN: Low Turnout In Parliamentary Election

[world politics news]

Iranians are voting for a new parliament in an election marred by frustration over economic woes and restrictions on political and social freedoms.

The election on Friday is the first formal measure of public opinion since antigovernment protests in 2022-2023 spiralled into some of the worst political turmoil since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SOUTHAFRICA: Politician Says Rivals Selling Nation To Jewa

[world politics news]

A politician in South Africa has accused rival politicians of trying to turn part of South Africa into a ‘Zionist’ state by supporting Israel in the face of Hamas aggression on October 7.

In a debate after the country’s State Of The Nation speech from President Cyril Ramphosa, South African Member of Parliament Ahmed Munzoor Shaik Emam accused the moderate opposition party the Democratic Alliance Party of handing Cape Town to “Zionists.”

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.