#EGYPT: Transportation Minister Resigns Following Deadly Cairo Train Crash

[world politics news]

Egypt's transportation minister resigned Wednesday after a deadly train crash in Cairo killed at least 25, and left over 50 injured.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly accepted Hisham Arafat's resignation, a cabinet satement the statement said. Egypt has consistently been criticized for the safety of its rail service.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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#MALDIVES: Legislation Giving Sweeping Powers To President "Sabotaged" By Absent Lawmakers

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Lawmakers from the Maldives' four-party ruling coalition have been accused of sabotaging a bill on granting sweeping powers to commissions formed by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to recover stolen assets and investigate unresolved murders in the nation, which lies in the Indian Ocean.

Speaker Gasim Ibrahim ended Tuesday’s sitting of parliament without putting the bill to a vote as the number of lawmakers present was one short of the 43 members of parliament needed to pass laws. Many lawmakers refused to enter the chamber to vote on the measure. Even some coalition lawmakers were reportedly opposed to empowering the inquiry commissions.

Pictured: Parliament Speaker Gasim Ibrahim.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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#UK: Labour Party Commits Itself To Seeking Second Brexit Referendum

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Labour Party Leader Jeremy Cornyn says his party will seek a second vote on Brexit, after weeks of wavering on the decision. The opposition party will file legislation to delay Brexit and prevent a "no-deal" break from The European Union from happening.

The decision was condemned by Brexit supporters, who called it a "betrayal" of the 2016 vote, in which over 17 million Britons voted to leave the single trading bloc.

Nigel Farage, leader of his newly created "Brexit Party," noted that millions of Labour supporters actually voted to Leave the EU. "Five million people who voted for Brexit then voted for Jeremy Corbyn the following year. For them, this is a disaster," he said. "A majority of Labour seats voted to Leave."

Pictured: Nigel Farage

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#SCOTLAND: Legislation Would Make It Illegal To Spank A Child; Church Of Scotland Lends Support

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The Church of Scotland is getting behind legislation to make hitting a child as a form of punishment illegal. The Children Equal Protection from Assault Bill, introduced by Scottish Green Member of Scottish Parliament John Finnie, would create a law to abolish the defense of "reasonable chastisement of a child."

Under current legislation, a person can claim that the physical punishment of a child is justifiable as a parental right or as a right of having charge or care of the child. However, the court does also consider a number of factors such as the nature of the action and duration. The Church of Scotland, and a number of other organisations wrote submissions to parliament's Equality and Human Rights Committee in support of the bill.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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#HONGKONG: All Students To Get US$254 Gov't "Caring And Sharing" Cash Handout Because Of Budget Surplus

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A HK$2,000 (US$254.) cash handout looks likely for all Hong Kong students as Finance Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po sweetens his budget. Chan had indicated there would be less giveaways in this year's budget compared with 2018 due to a lower surplus.

That has led to an expectation there will be no HK$4,000 handouts under a "Caring and Sharing" plan. But two large pro-establishment parties - the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong and the Federation of Trade Unions - suggested that Chan should not only continue with a HK$2,000 (US$509.) cash handout for a defined scope of students but extend it to all students in Hong Kong.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#RUSSIA: Bill Advances Thru Duma That Would Let Gov't Isolate Internet From Rest Of The World

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Russian lawmakers have advanced a contentious draft bill that seeks to give the authorities the power to unplug the national internet network from the outside world.

Deputies of the Duma submitted the measures to tighten state control over the internet in December, citing the need to respond to an “aggressive” U.S. national cybersecurity strategy. Although Russia’s state media regulator and major tech firms backed the steps to unplug from foreign servers, experts criticized the bill as being too vague and impossible to implement.

Opponents are raising concerns about state interference into the online activities of citizens. Critics have also raised fears that it would lead Russia to follow China’s example in establishing an isolated internet landscape.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#ITALY: EU Report Set To Warn Of "Contagion" Because Of Italian Recession, Blames Budget

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Italy’s budget does not contain measures able to boost growth and makes Rome a “risk of contagion” for the rest of the eurozone, according to a European Commission document leaked to the media. The report, due to be approved this week, is quoted as saying the budget would have negative effects on economic growth throughout the EU trading bloc.

Italy entered a recession at the end of 2018 and the commission has predicted growth this year of just 0.2 per cent, down from an earlier 1.2 per cent forecast. Passage of the budget in Italy was delayed this year, as EU officials threatened to sanction Italy for its anti-austerity budgeting.

Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said it was too early to say if the government would have to introduce a corrective budget later this year since “the government budget’s measures need time to have (positive) effects on the economy.”

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#ISRAEL: Left-Leaning Parties Join Forces To Run Against Netanyahu In April; Called A "Political Bombshell"

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Gabi Ashkenazi, Yair Lapid, Benny Gantz and Moshe Ya'alon.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's two biggest rivals on the center-left have joined forces and merged their parties, causing a political shakeup ahead of the Israeli ballot slated for April 9.

Hosen L'Yisrael chairman Benny Gantz and Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid have agreed to run on a joint ticket that will be called "Blue and White." The two would share the duties of Prime Minister, with Gantz serving for two and a half years, followed by Lapid. Some polls have been predicting that a joint Gantz-Lapid ticket could overtake Netanyahu's Likud Party, but Likud could then form a coalition with smaller, right-leaning parties to form a government, say experts.

Netanyahu's party lashed out at the union, saying, "The choice is clear: It's either a left-wing government headed by Lapid and Gantz and supported by a bloc of Arab parties, or a right-wing government headed by Netanyahu."

[FULL STORY HERE]

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#GERMANY: Despite Slower Growth, Finance Min. Insists Economy Is "Not In Crisis"

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Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has rejected claims Germany is heading for a recession and played down the Eurozone powerhouse’s economic troubles. "It’s not a crisis and it won't be in the next few years, it's just a slowdown in growth," he said, in an interview with London's Financial Times. But Scholz did warn the slowdown could put the strain on Germany’s public finances.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#UK: Three MPs Leave Conservative Party Over Brexit; Will Join Labour MPs in "Independent Group"

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Prime Minister Theresa May is under renewed pressure after the three members of parliament announced they would be leaving the Conservative Party, saying the country "deserved better."

All three have campaigned for a second Brexit referendum alongside Labour Party rebels Chuka Umunna and Luciana Berger.

Former Conservative MP Heidi Allen said May had been "bullied into submission" by the European Research Group of Conservatives who are demanding that she honor the 2016 Brexit vote, in which voters supported leaving the European Union.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#ISRAEL: Israeli Resilience Party Leader Attacks PM Netanyahu As "American-Trained Fake"

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Israel Resilience Party Leader Benny Gantz has launched a scathing personal attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, depicting him as an American-trained fake who spent years enjoying the high-life in the United States while he, Gantz, was risking his life in the trenches with Israel’s soldiers.

In this campaign, Gantz is stressing his long military career, which culminated in his tenure as Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff. Netanyahu has spent a great deal of his life in the USA, but as also a soldier and officer in the IDF's most elite unit. Netanyahu immediately condemned Gantz’s comments as "shameful."

[FULL STORY HERE]

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#GERMANY: Christian Democrats Fight To Restore Credibility After Merkel's Unpopular Immigration Policies

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Saying they had "learned their lesson" about the deeply unpopular, unfettered immigration policies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, her party, the Christian Democrats, have met in an effort to shore up their image. The party, which now has a new leader, has seen support hemorrhage since the 2015 refugee crisis.

Leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said the party had to prevent any repeat of the 2015 refugee crisis, which saw hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees arrive in Germany. "We must do everything we can to prevent this from happening again," she said. "We have learned our lesson."

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#UK: Seven MPs Resign From Labour Party Over Anti-Semitism And Corbyn's Leadership

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Seven MPs have resigned from the Labour Party in protest at Leader Jeremy Corbyn's approach to Brexit and accusations of institutional anti-Semitism within the party.

The MPs are Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Mike Gapes, Gavin Shuker and Ann Coffey.

Berger said she had exited the party because Labour had become institutionally anti-Semitic and she was "embarrassed and ashamed" to stay.

Corbyn said he was "disappointed" the MPs had felt unable to continue working for the policies that "inspired millions" at the 2017 election.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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#HONGKONG: Court Dismisses Appeal Of Legislator Removed From Office For Demonstration During Oath-Taking

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The Court of Appeal has dismissed a legal challenge by Leung Kwok-hung over the High Court's decision to disqualify him as a legislator. Leung, from the League of Social Democrats, lost his Legco seat for "failing to take his oath of office properly" in October 2016. He had held up a yellow umbrella – a symbol of the 2014 Occupy movement – while reading his oath, and he also ripped up a copy of Beijing's framework for political reform in Hong Kong.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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#HUNGARY: Swedish Cabinet Minister Suggests Hungarian Family Policies Resembles Nazis', Sparking Diplomatic Incident

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Hungary’s foreign ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador for consultations after a Swedish cabinet member compared the Hungarian government’s recent family assistance measures with those of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

In a tweet, Annika Strandhall, the Swedish minister for social affairs, said that Hungary’s “alarming” policies were “reeking of the 1930's." She suggested Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who she said seeks to promote the birth of "more true Hungarian" babies, was a "right-wing populist trying to obscure the consequences of those policies to the independence women have fought for."

At a press conference, Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister Péter Szijjártó said the Swedish ambassador had been told at the ministry that Strandhall’s comments were unacceptable and had used an "unacceptable tone."

In 2016, Strandhall also got into trouble after proclaiming on social media that all men should have their right to vote withdrawn following the election of Donald Trump.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#TUNISIA: Agreement Between Gov't And Gov't Workers' Union Heads Off Walk-Out Of 700,000 Workers

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A difficult round of negotiations between the government and the General union of Tunisian workers (UGTT) on the salary increase requested by some 700,000 State employees has ended with the signing of an agreement, heading off a two-day strike later this month. Minister for Social Affairs Mohamed Trabelsi described the agreement signed by the prime minister, Youssef Chahed, and the secretary general of UGTT, Noureddine Tabboubi, as ''historic."

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#HONGKONG: New Poll: Chief Executive Carrie Lam Has Lowest Approval Ratings Since Taking Office In 2017

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Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has recorded her lowest approval ratings since taking office in July 2017, according to a survey conducted by the University of Hong Kong.

Thirty-two percent of respondents supported Lam as the city's leader, while 52%  were opposed – giving her a net approval rate of negative 20%. All three indicators hit record lows.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#SPAIN: PM Sanchez Calls For Snap Election In April After Budget Fails In Parliament; Third Election In Four Years

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Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday called an early general election for April 28, the third in less than four years, after his draft budget was rejected in parliament. The Socialist Party leader took power just over eight months ago after he ousted his conservative rival in a dramatic parliamentary no-confidence vote, but it has been a turbulent term.

At the head of a fragile minority government, the 46-year-old had to rely on the support of unlikely bedfellows in parliament, including the far-left Podemos party, Basque nationalist lawmakers and crucially, 17 Catalan separatist MPs. They withdrew their backing of the government, and voted against the budget, to protest separatist leaders being put on trial for their role in a 2017 attempt to break Catalonia from Spain.

The campaign is set to begin April 13.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#THAILAND: Electoral Commission Rules That Princess Cannot Enter Politics As PM Candidate After King's Rebuke

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Thailand's election commission Wednesday asked the constitutional court to dissolve a political party that put forward a princess as candidate for prime minister, days after the move earned a royal rebuke from her brother, the king. Thailand has been mired in political drama since Friday, when Princess Ubolratana's name was submitted by Thai Raksa Chart, a party allied with the powerful Shinawatra clan.

Ubolratana's unprecedented bid to enter politics unravelled within hours after King Maha Vajiralongkorn decried the entry of a royal into the political fray as "highly inappropriate." Thailand's monarchy is seen as above politics, although royals have intervened in public during times of political crisis.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#THENETHERLANDS: Dutch PM Calls UK "A Waning Country" That "Is Too Small" Without European Union

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Britain is a “waning country” and too small to stand alone on the world stage, the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, has claimed in a withering assessment of the UK’s exit from the EU. Rutte, who has emerged as a key player in the talks over the past two years.

It was yet another insult from an EU spokesman that is likely to raise anti-EU feeling in the UK, following remarks by EU Pres. Donald Tusk a week ago, in which he said there's a "special place in hell" for Brexiteers who didn't plan ahead (which was taken as an insult by many ordinary UK voters who backed Brexit) and last month, EU chief Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt claimed if the UK leaves, one day it will be led back into the EU "where it belongs."

"Who will be left weakened by Brexit is the United Kingdom," he said. "It is already weakening, it is a waning country compared to two or three years ago. It is going to become an economy of middling size in the Atlantic Ocean. It is neither the US nor the EU. It is too small to appear on the world stage on its own."

[FULL STORY HERE]

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#CANADA: Justice Minister/Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould Resigns Over Allegations About Prosecution Agreement

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Minister of Justice and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould has resigned from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet "with a heavy heart," and is seeking legal advice about speaking publicly about the SNC-Lavalin scandal. She remains a Liberal Party member of parliament for the riding of Vancouver Granville. Her resignation comes amid questions into whether Trudeau or anyone in his office tried to pressure Wilson-Raybould to abandon the prosecution of a case against the Montreal-based engineering and construction company when she was justice minister and attorney general. On February 11, the Federal Ethics Commissioner launched an inquiry into allegations of political interference in the SNC-Lavalin case.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#USA: Georgia Lawmakers Consider Taxing Netflix, Hulu, Other Streaming Services

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Georgia lawmakers are considering imposing a state tax on digital video, books, music and video games. The result could mean that Georgia citizens could pay more for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Kindle e-books, iTunes music, Spotify and internet phone services.

American lawmakers may be listening to foreign legislators. In January, an Egyptian MP proposed a bill enabling the government to collect value-added tax (VAT) from internet companies such as Google and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#SLOVAKIA: Parliament Overrides President's Veto Of Gambling Legislation

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Slovakia's National Council has voted to override Pres. Andreja Kiska’s veto which would have prevented the country’s new gambling act from coming into effect. A total of 86 deputies in the 150-member parliament voted to overrule the President’s veto.

The new gambling legislation covers a variety of rules and regulations for online and land-based gambling, including opening its online gambling market to international operators across the European Union for the first time and effectively ending the online gambling monopoly of the state-owned national lottery operator TIPOS.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#SWEDEN: "Hippie" Culture Minister Says She Smoked Pot "Twice" But Wouldn't Now; Must Have "Restrictive" Drug Policy

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Saying she wants to get the "corpses out of the closet" before they're discovered by others, Sweden's new Culture Minister Amanda Lind says she smoked cannabis (pot) twice, but doesn't anymore. "Others may judge whether it is a big or a small thing," she said. "I wouldn't do it today. We must have a restrictive drug policy."

The Green Party member of parliament joined the Social Democratic Party cabinet of Prime Minister Stefan Löfven late last month. She succeeds MP Alice Bah Kuhnke, who is now a candidate for the European Parliament.

Moderate Party MP Hanif Bali joked on Twitter, "I look forward to having a hippie as Minister of Culture. Incense, chakra massage and tons of weed in the ministry." Lind, a licensed psychologist, has studied herbal alternative medicine, acupuncture and Chinese medicine.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#UK: Former Independence Party Leader Farage Officially Launches New Pro-Brexit Party

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The Electoral Commission has officially recognized Nigel Farage's "Brexit Party" as an official organisation ,which will allow it to field candidates in elections. Farage, the former UK Independence Party leader, said "the engine is running" and he stood "ready for battle" to fight the Tories and Labour if European Parliament elections are held on May 23, following a failure of Brexit to occur in March, as planned.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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