DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Iraq braces for more unrest as Basra protests gather pace An estimated 200 protesters gathered on Monday morning at the main gate leading to three of Iraqʼs major oil fields in the southern oil-exporting city of Basra. Protests in Basra, Iraqʼs second-largest city, started last Tuesdaywhen security forces opened fire, killing one person and wounding five. They soon spread to other provinces. Read more: Iraq hangs 13 ʼISʼ prisoners as PM Haidar al-Abadi calls for ʼjust retributionʼ The oil hub of Basra and other parts of the Shiʼite south have long been neglected, first by Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein and then by Shiʼite-led governments. But an ongoing political crisis and the recent rhetoric of Grand Ayatollah alSistani, the top Shiʼite cleric in the country have also clearly aggravated the situation.
Mexicoʼs presidentelect, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, slashes his own salary Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has vowed to slim down Mexicoʼs bloated government budget by taking a massive pay cut when he takes over as president in December. "What we want is for the budget to reach everybody," he told reporters on Sunday. He said he would take home 108,000 pesos per month (around $5,700, €4,900) – around 40 percent of current President Enrique Pena Nietoʼs salary of 270,000 pesos per month. Left-wing Lopez Obrador, who is also known as AMLO, says he wanted to reduce his salary even further, but decided against it so as not breed resentment among future Cabinet members who often leave high-paying jobs to serve as ministers.
162/2018 • 18 JULY, 2018
Barack Obama retraces his African-American roots Can he live up to the expectations of him as a private citizen?
Hundreds of crocodiles killed for ʼrevengeʼ in Indonesia Nearly 300 crocodiles were killed by angry townspeople in Indonesiaʼs West Papua province, officials confirmed on Monday. The incident in Sorong district occurred on Friday after a local man was killed by one of the animals. The 48-year-old farmer was reportedly killed on Friday when he entered a crocodile sanctuary in the Klamalu neighborhood as he was cutting grass for his cattle. Following his funeral on Saturday, the incensed villagers took machetes, hammers, shovels and other weapons to the breeding pond to exact revenge on the reptiles. About 40 police officers showed up to the scene but were overwhelmed by the mob and forced to retreat.
Brexit: Senior Conservative calls for second referendum Africa had high hopes for Obama’s presidency, many of which he did not fulfill. Now he’s in Kenya and South Africa for the first time since leaving office. "Iʼm looking forward to life after being president. I wonʼt have such a big security detail all the time," announced Barack Obama, still president of the USA at the time,during his speech to the African Union in 2015.He sounded euphoric: "It means I can go take a walk. I can spend time with my family. […] I can visit Africa more often." It has taken him a year and a half to get round to it, though. His diary for this trip is no less full than in the days when he was considered the most powerful man in the world. On Sunday he arrived in Kenya, his fatherʼs homeland, for a two-day visit. Shortly after his arrival he held brief meetings with the Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta, and opposition leader Raila Odinga. He will also be spending time with his family: On Monday he paid a visit to the home of his step-grandmother and then opened a sports and vocational center founded by his sister, Auma Obama, who studied in Germany. "I think that Obama is now at a good place where he can visit the country and do what he believes he is able to
do as an ordinary citizen, Martin Oloo, a Kenyan political analyst, told DW, "perhaps as an ordinary person who can mobilize resources or can mobilize supporters and make a contribution without is making look political and it appearing like a partisan thing." Whatʼs left of Obamamania? When Barack Obama was sworn in in 2009 as the first African-American US president, a wave of "Obama-mania" swept across the African continent. His face was printed on African fabrics and every African artist had portraits of the American statesman in their repertoire. Expectations were high: Africans believed their continent would be given a higher status with regard to US foreign policy, investment and development aid. After Obamaʼs eight years in office, many Africans still feel disillusioned. Read more: Opinion: No reason for ʼObama-Maniaʼ in Africa "I give him six out of 10 for his Africa policies," said Oloo. "Obama knows Africa and its problems; for sure he would have done more in a more favorable political environment."
Remain-supporting Justine Greening wrote in The Times newspaper on Monday that a second Brexit referendum was "the only way" to resolve the ongoing parliamentary stalemate over how the UK plans to extricate itself from the 28-member bloc. The former education minister said Mayʼs recent proposals would satisfiy neither those wanting a decisive break between London and Brussels in a so-called "hard" Brexit nor those wanting to maintain close trading links between the UK and EU. Speaking later on BBC Radio 4ʼs Today program, Greening said she expected other senior Tories to support the idea and outlined a system using first- and second-preference votes to ensure the preferred model achieved more then 50 percent of the final vote.
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