SOUTH AFRICA
Union boss accused of rape
An employee has accused the leader of powerful trade union federation COSTATU of rape, but the politician shot down the allegation as a plot on Saturday. COSTATU general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said the sex was consensual and that his accuser tried to blackmail him into paying 2 million rand (US$204,000). The 26-year-old woman told the Weekend Post that Vavi overpowered her on Jan. 25 in her office at the union’s Johannesburg headquarters. “He put me on the floor and forced himself on me. The general secretary raped me,” she said in an internal complaint, according to the paper. Vavi slammed the complaint as a plot to topple him. “I vehemently deny the allegations made against me by the staff member concerned,” he said in a statement on Saturday. “I have engaged lawyers, and I am ready and willing to appear before any legitimate body to clear my name.”
BULGARIA
Poll highlights discontent
Almost three-quarters of the population consider their country “intolerable,” according to a new survey released on Saturday by the Open Society Institute, following weeks of protest against the government and a worsening economy. The survey of 1,155 people by the public policy charity found that 72 percent thought the political situation was “intolerable,” with 22 percent judging it was just “bearable.” Only 2 percent of those surveyed described the current state of the nation as normal. The 72 percent of respondents denouncing the nation’s political quagmire is at a six-year high, and up 15 percentage points from July last year. The survey also found that almost 40 percent of the population wanted the immediate resignation of the government of Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski, whose minority Cabinet took office in late May.
IRAN
Man self-immolates: report
A semi-official news agency is reporting that a member of a small religious minority set himself on fire next to the country’s parliament building. ISNA’s late Saturday report says the man, a member of the Ahl Al-Haq, suddenly poured a bottle of fuel on his body and lit it. It said he was taken to hospital. Opposition Web sites have reported two other such self-immolations since last month by Ahl Al-Haq adherents, following the alleged abuse of a group member in prison. Tehran recognizes some non-Muslim minorities such as Zoroastrians, but others like the Baha’i complain of exclusion from state jobs, vilification in the media and other pressures. The Ahl Al-Haq faith is found mostly among ethnic Kurds in both western Iran and Iraq.
MALI
Voters head to polls
Voters were heading to the polls yesterday in the nation’s first election since last year’s coup, despite massive technical glitches which have resulted in tens of thousands of registered voters being dropped from the voter list. In the contested region of Kidal yesterday, only a trickle of voters made their way past checkpoints manned by UN peacekeepers. The majority that came could not find their name on the lists posted outside their polling station. Kidal was the birthplace of last year’s uprising by Tuareg separatists, a rebellion which set in motion a sequence of events that led to the coup in the capital. Officials are worried that low voter turnout, combined with the technical lapses that are preventing people from voting will undermine the legitimacy of the election.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
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