#THENETHERLANDS: PM Rutte Faces Confidence Vote After Botched Cabinet Talks

[world politics news]

 

A debate that could seal the political fate of recently re-elected Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte went on well past midnight

on Friday, after politicians from all sides of parliament accused him of lying over remarks made during talks to form a cabinet.

Rutte faced the biggest challenge to his leadership in a decade as the opposition presented a no-confidence motion, with a vote to directly follow the debate.Rutte was the clear winner of last month’s parliamentary elections, seen as a referendum on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Losing a vote of confidence would force him to tender his resignation to King Willem-Alexander.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#FRANCE: Pres. Macron Imposes New Covid Lockdown, 7 PM Nationwide Curfew

[world politics news]

France will enter a third national lockdown for four weeks, French president Emmanuel Macron announced in an address to the nation on Wednesday night.

From Saturday, all of mainland France will be under a 7 p.m. curfew, working from home will be expected from those that can, gatherings will be limited, non-essential shops will be closed, and travel restrictions will be imposed.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#AUSTRALIA: Attorney General Accused Of 1988 Rape Demoted In Cabinet

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Embattled Attorney General Christian Porter is being replaced Michaela Cash as Australia’s new Attorney General. 

Porter was struggling with an accusation that he raped a young woman, now deceased, in 1988.

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds has been moved out of Defence and into Government services and the NDIS in Prime Minister Scott Morrison's cabinet. Porter will take on the Industry, Science and Technology portfolio.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#POLAND: Author Faces Prison For Insulting The President

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A popular Polish writer and journalist could face up to three years in prison for calling President Andrzej Duda a "moron" in a Facebook post in November.

Jakub Zulczyk accused Duda of failing to understand the US electoral process in a tweet to Joe Biden.

Duda's tweet stopped short of recognising his victory, pending Electoral College confirmation, but hailed his "successful campaign".

Poland has made it a crime to insult state leaders and religion.

In a Facebook post, his British publisher, Legend Times, said they were shocked by the charges.

"History shows us the consequences of denying freedom of speech, it is essential for working society and its chilling oppression cannot be accepted. As his UK publisher, we stand fully with Jakub as I am sure do all writers and others here in the UK.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#HONGKONG: Heritage Foundation Drops City-State From Freest Economy List

[world politics news]

Hong Kong used to dominate the annual Heritage Foundation ranking of the world’s freest economies. 

But the Asian City-State has disappeared entirely from the latest list. Together with Macau, it is now counted as part of China to reflect to he Communist staye's increasing sway over policy following months of pro-democracy protests in 2019. 

In the latest edition published on Mar 3, China resides in 107th place in the ranking, sandwiched between Uganda and Uzbekistan among economies rated as “mostly unfree.”

The move to scrap Hong Kong and Macau’s independent ratings comes as top Communist Party officials prepare to meet in Beijing for the National People’s Congress.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#UK: Parliament Votes To Extend Gov't Lockdown Powers For Six Months

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The British Parliament has voted to extend the government's draconian emergency COVID legislation for another six months.

Despite opposition from more than 30 Conservative Party backbenchers, the Coronavirus Act was passed by 484 votes to 76, a majority of 408.

MPs also approved the regulations underpinning the steps to ease restrictions from March 29 as laid out in Boris Johnson's COVID-19 roadmap out of lockdown, which has been criticized by civil and human rights groups.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#MYANMAR: Military Gov't Siezes Soros Organization's Bank Accounts

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The military government in Myanmar, in place after a coup provoked by widespread accusations of voter fraud plagued the country’s recent election, has now seized the bank accounts of George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.

After taking control of the country in a military coup provoked by allegations of voter fraud earlier this year, the Myanmar military government has seized several bank accounts belonging or affiliated with George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, and has announced arrest warrants for 11 members of the organization in the country “on suspicion of giving financial support to the civil disobedience movement against the military junta.”

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#UK: Gov't To Ban Chinese Nuclear Engineers From New Nuke Plant Project

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After banning Huawei from taking part in the development of UK’s 5G infrastructure, governmentsources have indicated that the UK plans to ban Chinese engineers from participating in the construction of Sizewell Nuclear Plant, according to UK’s Daily Mail, adding that if China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) were to engage in any part of the project, investment from CGN would also be denied. 

 

Sizewell Nuclear Power Plant is a sister project to another nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point, each on a construction budget of £20 billion.  The construction at Hinkley Point has begun in 2018 where 33% of the finance and 40 staff members are provided by CGN. 

 

Sources have pointed out that although the project of building a nuclear plant in Sizewell is still at a preliminary stage, the UK is already in discussion with French energy company EDF, aiming to confine CGN to the role of an investor and not take part in the construction of the power plant. 

CGN has expressed their willingness to cover 20% of the cost of the Sizewell plant construction as well as sending more engineers to UK to discuss the possibility of building new nuclear reactors in Bradwell.

The moves by the UK government come at a time of increased tensions between London and Beijing, largely over the Communist governments insistence on interfering with the government of Hong Kong.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#JAPAN: District Court Rules Gay Marriage Ban Unconstitutional

[world politics news]

 

A district court in Japan has in a landmark decision ruled that the country's failure to recognise same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

Japan's constitution defines marriage as one

between "both sexes".

But a Sapporo court ruled that this denied the couples constitutionally-guaranteed equality, in what is seen as a symbolic victory for LGBTQ activists.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

USA: Rep. Greene Gets Heat For Saying Guam Is A Foreign Nation

[world politics news]

A first-term Georgia congresswoman who mistakenly referred to Guam as foreign land when she railed against federal financial aid going overseas will soon get cookies from the island that bills itself as "Where America's day begins." 

"I'm a regular, normal person. And I wanted to take my regular – normal person, normal, everyday American values, which is: We love our country. We believe our hard-earned tax dollars should just go for America – not for what, China, Russia, the Middle East, Guam – whatever, wherever," said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Feb. 27 at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) which headlined former President Donald Trump. "If we want to build roads, if we want to put money into schools, if we want to build border walls, we want it right here at home."

Guam has been in American territory since the Spanish American war ended in 1899, and its residents are born American citizens 

The congresswoman, who has been criticized for her conspiracy theories in the past and who has been stripped of her committee assignments by the democratic-led Congress as a result, was not a scheduled speaker at CPAC, but apparently spoke in a small room to an online audience.

The territory's governor reportedly was also going to stop by and give the congresswoman a history book detailing the islands history since becoming a territory.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#BELGIUM: Climate Action Group Sues Gov't For Inaction

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In a class action lawsuit, about 60,000 Belgians are suing their government for their alleged inaction in the fight against global warming. The case was filed in a civil court in Brussels. 

Launched in 2015 by the association Klimatzaak (the climate case, in Dutch), the procedure follows a similar one in the Netherlands that led to a ruling against the Dutch government.

The cases attack governments for not respecting the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets set by the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

In the Belgian case, the accusation alleges that Belgium failed to reduce its overall carbon emissions by “40% or at least 25%” by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, the updated thresholds linked to the Paris pact. 

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#NIGERIA: Labor Leaders Meet House Speaker To Oppose Minimum Wage Bill

[world politics news]

The speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has assured labor leaders that the House would not do anything to hurt Nigerian workers as they consider a minimum wage bill.

Speaking during a meeting with a delegation from the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) led by NLC president Ayuba Wabba in Abuja, the speaker called on the organized labor to use advocacy and lobbying as tools to register its disagreement with legislative decisions and actions.

He said the controversy being raised by the Minimum Wage Bill could be addressed successfully during the public hearing, where all stakeholders would have the opportunity to speak against the draft legislation.

Labor leaders led workers in a protest march to the National Assembly, demanding the withdrawal of the bill on the grounds that it would “enslave” workers and erode the gains achieved in the over 40 years of wage negotiations in Nigeria.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#THENETHERLANDS: PM Rutte's Party Wins Election, Right Gains Seats

[world politics news]

 
Prime Minister Mark Rutte's political party won the most seats in the Dutch parliament, according to a preliminary forecast by ANP news agency based on a count of 88.5% of the votes.

The liberal party Democrats 66 (D66) came in second in ANP's forecast with 24 seats, an increase of five seats compared to 2017.

The Party for Freedom, a right-wing nationalist party, was set to win 17 seats, which would be three seats fewer than they won four years ago.

The Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) was expected to gain 15 seats compared to their previous 19 seats in parliament in 2017.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#SLOVAKIA: Health Minister Resigns To Save Coalition Gov't

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Slovak Health Minister Marek Krajci resigned on March 11 as Prime Minister Igor Matovic battled to save his faltering coalition government, which is crumbling under the stress of handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Slovakia is currently suffering the second worst daily death rate in the world and the government has come under great criticism for failing to get a grip on the problem. Just recently the crisis came to a head when the prime minister procured 2mn doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, despite the opposition of his coalition partner the For the People party. Sputnik V has yet to receive approval by the EU's European Medicines Agency. 

Krajci, of the prime minister's populist OLaNO party,  said his resignation was a condition of the junior centre-right coalition parties For the People and Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) remaining in the government. He plans to step down gradually. 

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#UK: China In "Non-Compliance" With 1984 Hong Kong Treaty

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Britain has declared that China is now in “a state of ongoing non-compliance” with the 1984 Sino-British joint declaration, which was supposed to guarantee Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy after the territory returned to Beijing’s control in 1997.

Dominic Raab, foreign secretary, said radical changes planned by Beijing to restrict participation in Hong Kong elections represented a further clear breach of the legally binding declaration.

His comments came ahead of the publication next week of a UK foreign and defence policy, which will see Boris Johnson’s government set out its strategy for dealing with China.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#UK: Scottish Parliament Passes Hate Crimes Bill

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A controversial hate crimes bill has passed the Scottish Parliament.  

The Bill, which consolidates previous hate crime laws and adds new offences of “stirring up” hatred against protected characteristics of religion, age, disability and transgender identity, was passed with 82 votes in support, 32 against and four abstentions.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#BOLIVIA: Former. Interim President Arrested By Allies Of Former Pres. Morales

[world politics news]

Bolivia’s former interim President Jeanine Anez has been arrested over the 2019 political crisis that saw her replace predecessor Evo Morales. The arrest is reigniting tensions in the South American nation.

The conservative politician had faced an arrest warrant on charges of “terrorism”, sedition and conspiracy over an alleged coup after she replaced Morales in November 2019 when he fled the country during widespread protests against his re-election.

She served as interim president for less than a year after his departure.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#GERMANY: Law Gives Children A Voice In Decisions Affecting Them

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Last week, the German Bundestag (Federal Parliament) passed the law on the reform of youth protection in the media, presented by Federal Minister for Family Affairs Franziska Giffey. With the new regulations, the participation of children and young people, and thus one of the basic principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, is anchored in the legislative text for the first time.

Article 12, paragraph 1 of the UNCRC states that: “States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.”

Children and young people will be represented in an advisory board that will be established at the new Federal Agency for the Protection of Minors in the Media, where they will also participate in the regular evaluation of the effectiveness of the law.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#PAKISTAN: Media Regulator Bans Tik-Tok After Court Cites "Immoral Content"

[world politics news]

Pakistan has banned TikTok, China's video-sharing app, for the second time. The Pakistani media regulator undertook the move on Thursday after a court order citing "unethical and immoral content" on the platform.

The regulator didn't provide details on whether the ban was temporary or permanent. The Peshawar high court said that some videos uploaded on the platform were "unacceptable" for Pakistani society.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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

#UK: Green Party Politician Suggests 6 PM Curfew For Men To Reduce Violence

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A Green Party politician in Britain has called for all men to be subject to a 6 pm curfew to protect women and "lessen discrimination".

Green Party peer Baroness Jenny Jones made the comments in a House of Lords debate on domestic violence.

She later revealed that her proposal had received a torrent of abuse from men on Twitter:

"Since my comments about a curfew for men to keep women safe, I've had a deluge of misogynistic emails and tweets. Which rather proves my point about the problem being with men ..."

[FULL STORY HERE]

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