Category: Politics

Country sees Htin Kyaw, a close aide of Aung San Suu Kyi, sworn in after over five decades of military rule.

Htin Kyaw has been sworn in as Myanmar’s new president after more than five decades of military rule in the country.

In a ceremony in the parliament on Wednesday, democracy icon and leader of the ruling party Aung San Suu Kyi was sworn in as minister of foreign affairs, education and energy, and will also hold the president’s office portfolio.

She was unable to become president because of a constitutional block even though she led her National League for Democracy party (NLD) to a landslide win in general elections last November.

Myanmar has been under military or military-dominated rule since a coup in 1962, and the elections in November which brought the new government to power were the first openly contested polls since 1990.

Htin Kyaw is a close confidant of Myanmar’s Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi and longtime member of NLD.

Two vice-presidents, one of them a military nominee, are also due to take the oath of office, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported.

Htin Kyaw takes over from former general Thein Sein, who has led the country since 2011. Under Thein Sein, the government set in motion reforms which have opened up the once-isolated country to the outside world, including to foreign investment.

Who is Htin Kyaw?

Htin Kyaw is known among political commentators as a party insider with close ties to Suu Kyi going back many decades, including as one of her classmates at high school in Yangon.

Born in 1946, the 69-year-old is the son of a famous poet and writer, Min Thu Wan, who ran as an NLD candidate in the 1990 elections.

Htin Kyaw is married to NLD lawmaker Su Su Lwin, whose father U Lwin is one of the party’s founding members.

He studied economics at the University of Yangon and went on to study computer science.

He had a stint as a government employee while Myanmar was under military rule but was jailed in 2000 after he tested the limits of Suu Kyi’s house arrest at the time.

Until his election, Htin Kyaw was the head of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a charity named after Aung Sang Suu Kyi’s mother.

Need for military

Meanwhile, Myanmar’s commander-in-chief of the armed forces has stressed that there is a “need” for the military to remain a political force.

Senior general Min Aung Hlaing, making an Armed Forces Day speech in the capital, Naypyidaw, reasserted the military’s belief that it is the country’s sole unifying force and protector of the constitution.

“The Tatmadaw has to be present as the leading role in national politics with regard to the ways we stand along the history and the critical situations of the country,” Min Aung Hlaing said, referring to the armed forces by their Myanmar name.

Second impeachment case filed against President Rousseff for obstructing justice as PMDB prepares to leave coalition.

A legal request has been filed to impeach Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff for obstructing justice and fiscal accounting tricks, the second one against the leader politically embattled by her own government.

The request filed by the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) on Monday also involved Rousseff granting international football body FIFA tax-exempt status during the 2014 World Cup.

In reaction to the claims, Tourism Minister Henrique Eduardo Alves turned in a resignation letter on the same day, becoming the first minister from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) to declare leaving Rousseff’s government.

PMDB, Brazil’s largest political party, is expected to abandon its alliance with Rousseff’s Workers’ Party and collapse the coalition government.

A party vote is expected to be held on the issue on Tuesday.

Rousseff already faces an impeachment process over the alleged manipulation of government accounts that opposition parties maintain helped her win narrow reelection in 2014 by allowing her to boost public spending.

The president’s supporters tried to physically block the entry of the new impeachment request in the lower house of Brazil Congress, shouting the left-wing slogan “Não passaram!” meaning “They shall not pass,” while pushing and shoving opponents of the embattled president.

Another serious impeachable offence in the new request is the alleged interference by the president in investigations into the massive Petrobras corruption scandal.

The complaint on the issues is based on plea bargain testimony by Senator Delcidio Amaral, a key legislative ally for Rousseff before he was arrested in November.

The OAB added the controversial appointment last week to Rousseff’s Cabinet of her predecessor and mentor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, which the lawyers argued was an illegal move to shield him from prosecution in the Petrobras probe.

Lula’s appointment was suspended pending review by the Supreme Court.

The bar association, which represents one million lawyers, also listed a complaint that is shared by many Brazilians, that the Rousseff government hurt Brazil’s interests by granting FIFA a generous blanket tax exemption when it held the World Cup in Brazil.

The World Cup generated revenues of $4.8bn for FIFA, against expenses of $2.2bn, according to FIFA’s website.

The new impeachment petition will join a dozen others waiting for consideration by the speaker of the house Eduardo Cunha, a fierce critic of Rousseff who himself is facing corruption charges related to the Petrobras case.

Rousseff is struggling to save her presidency in the midst of the worst economic recession in a generation and the widening fraud investigation that started at state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro.

Country’s top court rejects 28-year-old petition to revoke constitutional provision declaring Islam as state’s religion.

Dhaka, Bangladesh – Bangladesh’s High Court on Monday rejected a 28-year-old petition calling for the removal of a constitutional provision recognising Islam as the official religion of the Muslim-majority South Asian nation.

The court ruled that the petitioning organisation, the Committee against Autocracy and Communalism, did not have the right to be heard in the court.

Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque, one of the three judges sitting on the bench, said that the court found that “the petitioner does not have locus standi and that is why the petition will be summarily rejected”.

The organisation’s lawyer, Subrata Chowdhury, said that he was “100 percent disappointed” with the decision.

“Without a hearing and without giving us any chance to present our argument on the point of locus standi, the court dismissed the case,” he told Al Jazeera.

Others, however, were pleased with the decision.

Lawyer Maulana MA Raquib, the president of the religious party Nezam-e-Islam who was present in court, said: “This is the decision of the highest court in the land. Islam should be the state religion. The majority of people in this country believe in Islam.”

He argued that having Islam as the state religion would not affect minority religions. “Minorities will not be discriminated against as there is a guarantee in the constitution for the minorities,” he said.

The petition was originally filed in 1988 after the then President Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad declared Islam as the state religion in a symbolic bid to win popular support while major political parties campaigned to oust him from power.

He resigned amid mass protests in 1990.

“We filed the petition then because Bangladesh was founded as a secular state, and having a state religion contradicts the basic structure of the constitution,” Professor Anisuzzaman, one of the leaders of the petitioning organisation, told Al Jazeera.

“The founding fathers of the country wanted to have a secular nation, and all of us during our liberation war subscribed to that and Bangladesh was founded on that basis.”

Bangladesh became independent from the Islamic state of Pakistan after a nine-month war in 1971 which resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, with the government claiming as many as three million.

Further impetus to challenge the constitutional provision came in 2011 when the current Awami League government further amended the constitution by adding new provisions which retained the wording on state religion, though at the same time emphasised “secularism” and the “equal status” of other religions.

Following the 2011 amendment, the Committee for Resistance against Autocracy and Communalism filed a supplementary petition to its 1988 case and the High Court then passed an order asking the government to explain why the new provision reaffirming Islam as the state religion should not be declared.

The dismissal of this case on Monday has allowed the government to avoid setting out its position in favour of the constitutional amendment, which could have been fraught with political dangers.

“I don’t know what is the position of the current government as the latest amendment brought back secularism from the first constitution but did not abolish the provision of state religion, so there is a contradiction,” said Professor Anisuzzaman.

“Bangladesh is a secular country but also provides for state religion.

“The government seems to favour both concepts, so that those who are in favour of state religion do not vote against the government,” he added.

Asif Nazrul, a professor of law at the University of Dhaka, said that he did not think the government was particularly concerned about secularism or Islam.

“Their only issue right now is how to stay in power, and when that requires emphasising secularism, they will do that, and when that requires supporting Islam, they will stick to that,” he said.

Shireen Huq, a leading women rights activist, thinks it is all about “political expediency”.

“Once wording like this [in the constitution] has been introduced, it is difficult to remove it as it could have a reaction which the government is not prepared to face,” she said.

Democratic candidate’s supporters buoyed by wins in Alaska and Washington but rival still holds big delegate lead.

US Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders has won nominating contests in Alaska and Washington, chipping away at frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s lead in the race to pick the party’s candidate for the White House.

Sanders’ wins on Saturday underscored Clinton’s vulnerabilities within her own party, particularly with young voters and liberal activists who have been inspired by her rival’s left-of-centre message. The two Democrats were also competing in Hawaii’s caucuses.

In an interview with the Associated Press news agency, Sanders cast his performance as part of a Western comeback, saying he expects to close the delegate gap with Clinton as the contest moves to the more liberal northeastern states, including her home state of New York.

He also said his campaign is increasing its outreach to superdelegates, the party insiders who can pick either candidate, and are overwhelmingly with Clinton.

“The Deep South is a very conservative part of the country,” he said. “Now that we’re heading into a progressive part of the country, we expect to do much better.”

He added: “There is a path to victory.” With Clinton far in front, however, it is a difficult path.

Clinton eyes New York

Clinton anticipated the losses. She barely campaigned in the three Western states, making one day of stops in Washington state.

She is turning her focus to the April 19 contest in New York, seeking to win a large share of the delegates at stake and to avoid the blow of losing to Sanders in a state she represented in the Senate.

She is trying to lock up an even larger share of delegates in five Northeastern state contests a week later, hoping to deliver a big enough haul to unify the Democratic Party and relegate Sanders to little more than a protest candidate.

Sanders, who has found some success in the industrial Midwest, wants to leverage his arguments against free-trade and his working class support into an April 5 victory in delegate-rich Wisconsin.

He also plans to compete fiercely in New York and is pushing for the party to schedule a debate in the state, saying it would be “really absurd” if one did not take place.

‘We’re going to win’

On Saturday, he told more than 8,000 cheering supporters at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin, that his campaign has momentum, citing Saturday’s wins that followed recent victories in Utah and Idaho.

“Don’t let anybody tell you we can’t win the nomination or we can’t win the general election. We’re going to do both of those things.”

After Sanders’ two wins on Saturday, Clinton held a delegate lead of 1,234 to 956 over Sanders, according to an Associated Press analysis, an advantage that expands to 1,703-985 once the superdelegates are included.

It takes 2,383 delegates to win the nomination at the party’s national convention in July in Philadelphia.

Based on the AP count, Sanders still needs to win more than 57 percent of the remaining delegates from primaries and caucuses to have a majority of those delegates by June’s end.

His bar is even higher when the party officials are considered. He needs to win more than 67 percent of the remaining delegates overall – from primaries, caucuses and the ranks of uncommitted superdelegates – to prevail.

Newspaper says one of the three people charged is believed to be the third fugitive airport bomber.

Belgian prosecutors have charged three men with terrorist offences, including a suspect who local media said appeared on security footage with two suicide bombers at Brussels airport shortly before they detonated their bombs.

Authorities identified the first suspect on Saturday as Faycal C., although Belgian media reported his full name as Faycal Cheffou.

The newspaper Le Soir reported that he is believed to be the third attacker at the Brussels airport, who has been on the run.

Prosecutors also alleged that he was the man wearing a hat and a light-coloured jacket in last Tuesday’s airport picture that showed three men pushing baggage trolleys bearing luggage.

The newspaper said Faycal C. was identified by a taxi driver who drove the attackers to the airport.

Faycal C. was one of those detained by authorities following raids on Thursday evening in the Schaerbeek and Jette neighbourhoods of Brussels.

An arrest was also made in France on Thursday, while separate raids were carried out on Friday in Schaerbeek, Forest and Saint-Gilles areas of Brussels.

Prosecutors said the home of Faycal C. was searched by investigators, but no weapons or explosives were found.

Prosecutors said they have also charged two other people with participation in the activities of a terrorist group but do not establish a direct link between them and the Brussels attacks.

The two men were identified as Aboubakar A. and Rabah N. Rabah N. was wanted in connection with a related raid in France this week that authorities said foiled an apparent attack plot.

In total, nine people have been arrested since Thursday in Belgium and two in Germany.

Authorities also said that a man arrested on Friday after being shot in the leg at a tram stop in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek was being held for a further 24 hours. He was identified as Abderamane A. and was one of three people arrested on Friday.

‘Nail bombs’

Prosecutors said the main suspects of the Brussels attacks evaded authorities by using an empty building under renovation to assemble the “home-made nail bombs”.

Officials said there were no nearby neighbours to notice the suspects taking in large quantities of strong-smelling household chemicals, as well as a suitcase of nails, to concot an unstable white explosive powder known as TATP, or triacetone triperoxide.

Meanwhile, Brussels airport officials said flights would not resume before Tuesday as they assess the damage caused by twin explosions in the terminal earlier this week.

Authorities have wrapped up their investigation of the crime scene at the airport, and will allow engineers into the building to check its structural safety and information technology systems — and whether any damage can be repaired quickly.

The Brussels Airport Company said Saturday it is “currently studying a temporary solution to partially resume passenger flights, taking into account the new security measures” decided by the federal government.

Brussels Airport handles 23.5 million passengers annually. It links Brussels with 226 destinations worldwide and is served by 77 different airlines.

Suicide bombers hit the Brussels airport and a metro train on March 22, killing 31 people and wounding at least 270 in the worst such attack in Belgian history.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group, which claimed responsibility for the Brussels bombings, also took credit for coordinated attacks in Paris in November which killed 130 people.

On Saturday, organisers of a peace march in Brussels announced its event on Sunday has been postponed, after appeals from officials, who said police are already overstretched, with investigations on the attacks still ongoing.

Hassan Rouhani is the first Iranian head of state to visit neighbouring Pakistan in the last 14 years.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have vowed to boost cooperation on regional security and trade during talks in Islamabad, the first visit by an Iranian head of state in 14 years.

Rouhani said he and Sharif had agreed on Friday to fight “extremist and terrorist groups” in their countries’ shared border, as the two leaders announced the opening of two new crossing points to encourage trade long hampered by sanctions.

“We place emphasis on the need for cooperation between our two countries, on regional security,” Rouhani said, adding that issues related to energy, gas the export of electricity were also discussed.

Meanwhile, Sharif said he hopes the opening of two new crossings would contribute to “economic integration” in the region, while promoting tourism and “people to people contacts”.

Pakistan, a majority Sunni country, has traditionally close ties with Saudi Arabia, which is hostile to Iran, a Shia power.

The kingdom accuses Tehran of supporting Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen against the internationally recognised president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition of mostly Gulf Arab states in an air-campaign against the Houthis in the conflict, widely seen as a proxy Saudi-Iran war.

‘Evolving relationships’

Last year, Pakistan refused a Saudi request to send troops into Yemen after a vote in Parliament delivered an overwhelming “no.”

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Mosharraf Zaidi, a former advisor to Pakistan’s foreign ministry, said Rouhani’s visit is “proof positive” that Pakistan cannot maintain a relationship with Saudi and other Gulf countries “at the expense of a useful and functional” ties with Iran.

Rouhani’s visit is also expected to discuss a controversial gas pipeline from Iran, through Pakistan to India.

Work has stalled on the Iran-Pakistan section, which was designed to help Pakistan meet its energy needs.

Iran has invested over $2bn in the project, but Pakistan has yet to finish construction on its half of the pipeline.

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said Pakistan needs Iran to supplement its energy needs as its industrial output has hit a “virtual standstill.”

Washington had for years opposed the project amid concerns over Tehran’s nuclear programme.