Month: November 2019

Pakistan has closed its consular office in Afghanistan’s capital, citing unspecified security reasons. Pakistan said the Kabul office will be closed until further notice. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said Afghanistan’s charge d’affaires has been summoned to “convey serious concerns over the safety and security” about its diplomats in Kabul. Pakistan said in a statement that its embassy staff members had been “obstructed on the road and the embassy vehicles were also hit by motorcycles while going towards the embassy.” Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have long been tense. Kabul allege that leaders and fighters of the Afghan Taliban use sanctuaries on Pakistani soil to direct insurgent attacks against local and international forces, a charge Pakistan denies.     …

Iraqi officials said Monday security forces shot dead three protesters in Iraq’s holy city of Karbala overnight after a group tried to scale the walls of the Iranian consulate. Protesters gathered at the site late Sunday and chanted, “Iran out, Karbala remains free.” Before the shootings, officials said protesters also threw objects over the walls and tried to set fires at the consulate site. More than 250 people have been killed since protests in Iraq began last month. Iraqi demonstrators take part at ongoing anti-government protests at Tahrir Square in Baghdad, Nov. 2, 2019. Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators have gathered in recent days in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square and across southern Iraq, shutting down markets, factories, schools and universities in protest of the political system in place since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi called for the shuttered places to be reopened, contending that the threat to oil facilities and closure of roads had cost Iraq “millions” of dollars and contributed to consumer price increases in the country. “It’s time for life to return to normal,” the Iraqi leader said. Thousands of students have skipped classes to join the protests, blaming the country’s leaders for rampant corruption, high unemployment and poor public services. Syndicates of engineers, doctors and lawyers have all backed the protests. The protesters on Sunday blocked roads around the main protest site in Baghdad with burning tires and barbed wire. At one roadblock, the demonstrators unfurled a banner saying, …

Twenty-year-old Evan Karabas reviews a steady flow of information streaming across his laptop as the digital director of College Republicans at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Lately, much of that content focuses on the U.S. House of Representatives’ ongoing impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.   But nothing Karabas reads, sees, or hears about the probe gives him cause for concern, including details of Trump’s July 25 telephone conversation with Ukraine’s President Volodomyr Zelenskiy that has Washington in an uproar.   “I read the transcript; it’s available. I don’t see a problem with it,” he told VOA. “I mean, if you read the transcript, it reads like a very normal phone call. I know President Zelenskiy of Ukraine said he wasn’t pressured in any way, so I don’t see a problem with it.”   Trump Impeachment Probe Divides US Voters in Key State video player. Embed Copy Link Trump Impeachment Probe Divides US Voters in Key State Like many Republicans, Karabas does not support impeachment.   “I do think the Democrats are getting a little desperate. I don’t know that they are super confident they can beat Trump in 2020, so they are going to try to impeach him in hopes that it will raise some bad publicity.” Others back the inquiry.   “I think that the impeachment process was put there for a reason, and we’ve reached that threshold [where it’s warranted],” says rural Egg Harbor, Wisconsin voter Bernadette Rainsford, who believes Trump’s phone call to the Ukrainian …

Smuggling gangs in Mexico are cutting through the “virtually impenetrable” wall President Donald Trump is building along the U.S.-Mexico border to keep migrants and drugs out of the country, but Trump says he is not concerned. “We have a very powerful wall,” Trump told reporters Saturday at the White House. “But no matter how powerful, you can cut through anything, in all fairness. But we have a lot of people watching. You know cutting, cutting is one thing, but it’s easily fixed. One of the reasons we did it the way we did it, it’s very easily fixed. You put the chunk back in.” Trump offered his thoughts after The Washington Post disclosed that gangs have repeatedly sawed through the border wall in recent months using a reciprocating saw, a popular household tool that sells for as little as $100 at hardware stores. When equipped with specialized blades, the saws can cut through the steel-and-concrete bollards within minutes, according to border agents.  FILE – People walk along a border wall in El Paso, Texas, July 17, 2019. Once bases of the bollards have been cut, smugglers have been able to push them aside, creating a space wide enough for migrants and smugglers to enter. It has not been disclosed how many times the breaches have occurred. One of Trump’s favorite 2016 election campaign themes was that he would build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to thwart illegal immigration – and that Mexico would pay for it.  But with his …

The White House on Sunday defended President Donald Trump’s bid to get Ukraine to investigate one of his chief 2020 Democratic political rivals, former Vice President Joe Biden, saying the request did not amount to an impeachable offense. “Nothing would lead to a high crime or misdemeanor,” one of Trump’s top aides, Kellyanne Conway, told CNN. She was referring to the standard for impeaching a U.S. president days after the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives approved proceedings for the impeachment inquiry targeting Trump over his actions related to Ukraine. FILE – Then-Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden attend an NCAA basketball game between Georgetown University and Duke University in Washington, Jan. 30, 2010. But Conway said she did not know whether Trump had initially conditioned release of $391 million in military aid to Ukraine in exchange for Kyiv investigating Biden, his son Hunter Biden’s work for Ukrainian natural gas company, Burisma, as well as a debunked political theory that Ukraine, and not Russia, had hacked into Democratic National Committee computers to try to help defeat Trump in the 2016 election. “I feel comfortable in saying that [Trump] never mentioned a quid pro quo or 2020” in a late July call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Conway said.  “Let’s be honest …,” she added, “what is not there [in the phone call between the two leaders] is holding up the aid. They got that aid.” Democrats contested White House assertions. “The Congress appropriated money for foreign aid for Ukraine, and the …

Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday it was expelling El Salvador’s diplomats from the country, in response to the Central American country’s decision to expel diplomats representing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. In a statement, the ministry said it would give the diplomats 48 hours to leave. El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s government does not recognize Maduro as legitimate and said on Saturday it would receive a new diplomatic corps representing opposition leader Juan Guaido. Guaido, who presides over the opposition-controlled National Assembly, in January invoked the South American country’s constitution to assume an interim presidency, arguing Maduro stole the 2018 election. He has been recognized by dozens of Western countries, including the United States. The Salvadoran move came less than a week after the U.S. government extended temporary protections for Salvadorans living in the United States by an extra year. “Salvadoran authorities are breathing oxygen into the failing U.S. strategy of intervention and economic blockade against the people of Venezuela,” Venezuela’s ministry said. “Bukele is officially assuming the sad role of a pawn of U.S. foreign policy.” Maduro, a socialist, calls Guaido a U.S. puppet seeking to oust him in a coup, and blames U.S. sanctions for a hyperinflationary economic collapse that has led to a humanitarian crisis in the once-prosperous OPEC nation, prompting millions to emigrate. While most of Venezuela’s neighbors recognize Guaido and have called on Maduro to step down, Maduro has remained in power thanks to the backing of the armed forces and allies including Russia, China …

London’s Vietnamese community has gathered at a vigil and a service to honor the 39 Vietnamese victims who died in a refrigerated truck container in southeastern England. The community is mourning the unidentified victims, who were trying to enter Britain in hopes of finding greater opportunity. They were discovered dead on Oct. 23 at an industrial park in the town of Grays. Rev. Simon Nguyen offered prayers for the victims and for their loved ones in Vietnam. “We show our condolences and sympathies for the people who have lost their lives on the way seeking freedom, dignity and happiness,” he said, going on to pray for those who lost their “sons and daughters” in the tragedy. A Saturday night vigil was followed by a Sunday service at the Church of the Holy Name and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in east London. Authorities charged with the grim task of trying to identify the remains are working with officials in Vietnam to try to get information about people who have been reported missing by their families and are thought to have been in transit to England. The 31 men and eight women are believed to have paid people traffickers for their clandestine transit into England. Police have not provided details about the scheme. British police have charged 25-year-old Maurice Robinson, from Northern Ireland, with 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people. They say he drove the cab of the truck to Purfleet, England, where it picked up the …

A study by the World Food Program and partner organizations finds malnutrition and obesity contribute significantly to El Salvador’s poverty and inability to develop its struggling economy. The study attributes the losses in productivity, health and education in El Salvador to, what it calls, the “double burden” of malnutrition and obesity.  It says these twin problems can occur in the same countries, communities and families. Malnutrition takes many forms.  Stick-thin malnourished individuals suffer from undernutrition, leading to wasting and stunting.  Overweight and obese people lack important vitamins and minerals.  This makes them susceptible to diet-related noncommunicable diseases. The World Food Program reports El Salvador has endured the cost of this double burden for more than a decade.  WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel said this has resulted in losses of more than $2.5 billion from lost productivity and extra health and educational costs.  “Currently, one in six children have chronic undernutrition and six out of 10 adults are overweight or obese, and that raises troubling consequences, which limit the development of the country.  The study shows that four out of 10 children with malnutrition do not finish primary school.  Eight of 10 do not finish high school,” he said.  Furthermore, Verhoosel said 1 million overweight or obese Salvadorans suffer from diabetes and hypertension.  He addd these conditions lead to spiraling health costs.  The study finds more than half a billion dollars was spent on treating diabetes and hypertension in 2017. The study concludes that El Salvador could improve its socioeconomic condition by …

Firefighters began to get the upper hand on a destructive wildfire in a Southern California farming region Saturday, taking advantage of lighter winds as authorities let some evacuated residents return home.  The Maria Fire erupted Thursday near Santa Paula, about 70 miles (110 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and it has since charred 9,400 acres (3,800 hectares) of dry brush and chaparral, officials said.  Firefighters have scrambled to protect tens of millions of dollars’ worth of citrus and avocado crops in harm’s way, as well as oil industry infrastructure.  The blaze, which was 20% contained Saturday, is the most pressing emergency facing California firefighters, with several other blazes in the state largely contained.  More than 10,000 people were under evacuation orders at the height of the blaze.  Evacuation orders lifted But authorities allowed people in two residential areas to return home Saturday and they had plans to further lift evacuation orders, said Ventura County Fire Captain Brian McGrath.  “We’re taking advantage of the good weather we have right now,” McGrath said by phone.  The fire has destroyed three structures but has not caused any injuries, he said.  Southern California Edison has told state authorities that 13 minutes before the fire started, it began to re-energize a circuit near where flames first erupted, said a spokesman for the utility, Ron Gales.  Southern California Edison had shut off power in the area because of concerns that an electrical mishap could spark a wildfire. The utility and fire officials have said the cause of the blaze is still under investigation.  Dry winds, but they’re weak On Friday evening, moist breezes from the Pacific Ocean aided …

The song “Baby Shark” blared over loudspeakers and a wave of red washed across this politically blue capital Saturday as Nationals fans rejoiced at a parade marking Washington’s first World Series victory since 1924.  “They say good things come to those who wait. Ninety-five years is a pretty long wait,” Nationals owner Ted Lerner told the cheering crowd. “But I’ll tell you, this is worth the wait.”  As buses carrying the players and team officials wended their way along the parade route, pitcher Max Scherzer at one point hoisted the World Series trophy to the cheers of the crowd.  At a rally just blocks from the Capitol, Scherzer said that early in the season his teammates battled hard to “stay in the fight.” And then, after backup outfielder Gerardo Parra joined the team, he said, they started dancing and having fun. And they started hitting. “Never in this town have you seen a team compete with so much heart and so much fight,” he said.  And then the Nats danced.  With the Capitol in the background, the Washington Nationals celebrate the team’s World Series baseball championship over the Houston Astros, with their fans in Washington, Nov. 2, 2019. ‘I trusted these guys’ Team officials, Nationals manager Dave Martinez and several players thanked the fans for their support through the best of times and staying with them even after a dismal 19-31 start to the season. “I created the circle of trust and I trusted these guys,” Martinez said.  The camaraderie among the …

Thousands of Lebanese flocked together Saturday in Tripoli to keep a protest movement alive in a city dubbed “the bride of the revolution.”  Despite its reputation for conservatism, impoverished Tripoli has emerged as a festive nerve center of anti-graft demonstrations across Lebanon since Oct. 17.    The movement has lost momentum in Beirut since the government resigned this week, but in the Sunni-majority city of Tripoli late Saturday, it was still going strong.    In the main square, protesters waved Lebanese flags and held aloft mobile phones as lights, before bellowing out the national anthem in unison, an AFP reporter said.  ‘Everyone’ urged to go “Everyone means everyone,” one poster read, reiterating a common slogan calling for all political leaders from across the sectarian spectrum to step down.    Many people had journeyed from other parts of the country to join in.    Ragheed Chehayeb, 38, said he had driven in from the central town of Aley.    “I came to Tripoli to stand by their side because they’re the only ones continuing the revolution,” he said.    Leila Fadl, 50, said she had traveled from the Shiite town of Nabatiyeh south of Beirut to show her support.    “We feel the demands are the same, the suffering is the same,” she said.    More than half of Tripoli residents live at or below the poverty line, and 26 percent suffer from extreme poverty, a U.N. study found in 2015.  Future uncertain   On Tuesday, embattled Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his cabinet would step down.  …

Newly released documents show a Trump campaign official told the FBI that during the 2016 presidential race, the campaign’s chairman, Paul Manafort, pushed the idea that Ukraine, not Russia, was behind the hack of the Democratic National Committee’s servers.    That unsubstantiated theory was advanced by President Donald Trump even after he took office, and it would later help trigger the impeachment inquiry now consuming the White House.    Notes from an FBI interview were released Saturday after a lawsuit by BuzzFeed News that led to public access to hundreds of pages of documents from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.    Information related to Ukraine has taken on renewed interest after calls for impeachment based on efforts by Trump and his administration to pressure Ukraine to investigate Democrat Joe Biden. Trump, when speaking with Ukraine’s new president in July, asked about the server in the same phone call in which he pushed for an investigation into Biden.    Manafort speculated about Ukraine’s responsibility as the campaign sought to capitalize on DNC email disclosures and as associates discussed how they could get hold of the material themselves, deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates told investigators, according to the notes.    Gates said Manafort’s assertion that Ukraine might have done it echoed the position of Konstantin Kilimnik, a Manafort business associate who had also speculated that the hack could have been carried out by Russian operatives in Ukraine. U.S. authorities have assessed that Kilimnik, who was also charged in Mueller’s investigation, has ties …

A federal judge in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday put on hold a Trump administration rule requiring immigrants to prove they will have health insurance or can pay for medical care before they can get visas.    U.S. District Judge Michael Simon granted a preliminary injunction that prevents the rule from going into effect Sunday. It’s not clear when he will rule on the merits of the case.    Seven U.S. citizens and a nonprofit organization filed the federal lawsuit Wednesday, contending the rule would block nearly two-thirds of all prospective legal immigrants.    The lawsuit also said the rule would greatly reduce or eliminate the number of immigrants who enter the United States with family-sponsored visas.    “We’re very grateful that the court recognized the need to block the health care ban immediately,” says Justice Action Center senior litigator Esther Sung, who argued at Saturday’s hearing on behalf of the plaintiffs. “The ban would separate families and cut two-thirds of green-card-based immigration starting tonight, were the ban not stopped.”  Who would be affected   The proclamation signed by President Donald Trump in early October applies to people seeking immigrant visas from abroad, not those in the U.S. already. It does not affect lawful permanent residents. It does not apply to asylum-seekers, refugees or children.    The proclamation says immigrants will be barred from entering the country unless they are to be covered by health insurance within 30 days of entering or have enough financial resources to pay for any medical …

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, federal president of Germany, was in Boston at the end of October to conclude a yearlong diplomatic initiative Germany launched to strengthen ties with the United States. In remarks delivered at the re-opening of Goethe-Institut Boston on October 31, Steinmeier stressed the longstanding bond between the two countries and urged the two sides to focus less on “what separates us” and more on “what unites us.” The Goethe-Institut, named after Germany’s most famous poet (and one-time diplomat) Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, is a German government-supported cultural institution active worldwide. It has offices and a presence in 10 cities in the United States. “I have come here as Federal President to raise our sights away from the day-to-day emphasis on tweets and tirades and beyond the indignation that is often both predictable and ineffective,” Steinmeier said, in what seemed to be references to U.S. President Donald Trump’s usage of Twitter to communicate his thoughts and feelings. “I want to expand our horizons so that we can look back on our shared history and at things that will hopefully connect us in the future, things for which we need one another,” Steinmeier continued. FILE – U.S. President John F. Kennedy, left, waves to a crowd of more than 300,000 gathered to hear him declare “Ich bin ein Berliner,” “I am a Berliner,” in front of Schoeneberg City Hall, West Berlin, June 26, 1963. Germany’s troubled history The German federal president emphasized in his speech that “the great question of our …

A controversial fraud case against Russia’s leading theater and movie director, Kirill Serebrennikov, was relaunched Friday by prosecutors in Moscow after a string of small legal wins this year upset their case. The 50-year-old Serebrennikov and three co-defendants are accused of embezzling up to $2 million in public money from a theater project, an accusation they deny and describe as absurd. The director, who last month received a major arts award from the French government, has been involved in anti-government protests, has warned about the growing influence of the Orthodox Church on Russian society and politics, and he protested arts censorship in Russia. He denies any wrongdoing, and his supporters, including actors Cate Blanchett and Nina Hoss, say the charges are politically motivated and fit a pattern of authorities retaliating against dissenting artists. The relaunch of the prosecution came as another Moscow court Friday approved the Justice Ministry’s branding of opposition politician Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation as “a foreign agent.” Observers see this as a prelude to a possible closing of Navalny’s foundation, which has embarrassed Kremlin figures with investigative reports highlighting their extraordinary wealth and extensive property ownership. FILE – Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, standing, is seen at the office of his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) in Moscow, March 18, 2018. Another legal victory As the preliminary hearing unfolded, attorneys for Serebrennikov and his fellow defendants scored another small legal win Friday when the judge, Olesya Mendeleeva, declined a request by prosecutors for a travel ban on all the defendants. …

Citing a rise in ethnic and racial violence in many parts of the world, the State Department is mobilizing U.S. partners to combat white supremacist and other extremist groups. Nathan Sales, the State Department’s counterterrorism coordinator, said Friday the “world saw a rise in racially or ethnically motivated terrorism” in 2018, calling the development a “disturbing trend.” “Our role is mobilizing international partners to confront the international dimensions of this threat,” Sales said at the launch of the State Department’s 2018 Country Report on Terrorism. FILE – Hezbollah security forces stand guard as their leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah speaks via a video link on a screen in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 10, 2019. Sponsors of terrorism The report called Iran “the world’s worst sponsor of terrorism,” saying the Iranian regime, through its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, spends nearly $1 billion a year to support terrorist groups such as the Lebanese Hezbollah. “Many European countries also saw a rise in racially, ethnically, ideologically or politically motivated terrorist activity and plotting, including against religious and other minorities,” the report said. For example, the report noted an estimated 2,000 “Islamist extremists” and 1,000 “white supremacist and leftist violent extremists” in Sweden. A 2018 assessment by the Swedish Security Services called the extremists’ presence a “new normal.” Cross-border links Echoing recent assessments by the FBI and other security officials, Sales said that white supremacists and other extremists increasingly communicate with like-minded cohorts across international borders. “We know that they are, in …

Nationals of six countries who live in the United States under a special humanitarian status will be permitted to stay longer, the U.S. government announced Friday, delaying the Trump administration’s target dates for terminating the program for certain groups. Officials pushed back the end date of Temporary Protected Status for El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan, in order to comply with court orders stemming from ongoing lawsuits, the government said in a document released Friday. U.S. Temporary Protected Status for Six Countries The lawsuits were brought by civil rights and immigrant rights groups challenging the termination of TPS for nationals of the six countries, which was originally scheduled for early next year. TPS recipients from those nations will have their status automatically extended to January 4, 2021, but with a caveat. While recipients may continue to live and work legally in the U.S. for an extended period, the document released Friday states that, should a judge rule in favor of the government sooner, TPS holders from the named countries will have 120 days from that point to adjust their immigration status or leave the country. The announcement follows Monday’s news, tweeted by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, that a deal had been struck with Washington to extend protected status for about 250,000 Salvadorans residing in the U.S., the largest of the TPS groups. Salvadoran recipients may get an extension for an additional year, pushing the end date to 2022, according to the document and statements by Bukele. Friday’s …

Thousands of people turned out Friday in the center of the Algerian capital, Algiers, as well as other towns and cities, for the 37th consecutive weekly protest against the government, according to Arab media reports. Many protesters called for the postponement of presidential elections, set to take place December 12. The crowds appeared to be larger than usual, probably because Friday marked the 65th anniversary of the breakout of the Algerian revolution against then-colonial power France. Arab news channels showed live video of thousands of demonstrators waving Algerian flags and chanting in front of Algiers’ iconic main post office building, as dozens of government security forces ringed off the area. It was the largest anti-government demonstration in weeks, and some observers estimated that more 1 million people may have turned out nationwide.  Algerian demonstrators take to the streets in the capital Algiers to protest against the government, in Algeria, Nov. 1, 2019. Police struggled Friday to contain thousands of Algerian demonstrators protesting next month’s presidential election. The protesters are upset with plans for the vote to replace longtime leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who quit in April in the face of mass demonstrations against the country’s leadership. They have called for an overhaul of the political system that has been in place for decades. Amid the anti-government protests were official celebrations of the war that led to Algeria’s independence from France. An Algerian military band played taps to honor the many victims of the Algerian revolution against France, which officially broke out …

A senior Russian diplomat says Moscow and Washington are running out of time to extend the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty. Vladimir Leontyev, deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s arms control department, said Friday that “it’s clear that we won’t be able to produce a full-fledged replacement” to the New START treaty that expires in 2021. He said that Russia-U.S. talks over the past year have shown that “there are issues that require very serious examination on expert level.” Leontyev said Russia’s prospective Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile and Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle fall under the pact, but other new weapons announced by President Vladimir Putin don’t, including the Poseidon nuclear-armed underwater drone, the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile and the Kinzhal hypersonic missile.   He said the U.S. sees things differently, raising the need for new, complex talks. …

China will “improve” the way Hong Kong’s leader and other officials are appointed and replaced, a Chinese official said Friday. Shen Chunyao, the director of the Hong Kong, Macau and Basic Law Commission, also told reporters Communist Party officials decided this week that the Hong Kong legal system will be improved to “safeguard national security.” “We absolutely will not permit any behavior encouraging separatism or endangering national security and will resolutely guard against and contain the interference of foreign powers in the affairs of Hong Kong and Macao and their carrying out acts of separatism, subversion, infiltration and sabotage,” Shen said. Shen’s statement comes after five months of anti-government protests over China’s meddling with the freedoms guaranteed to the city when it returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997. The demonstrations started after a proposed extradition bill that could have led to Hong Kong citizens facing torture and unfair trials in mainland Chinese courts.   The extradition legislation was eventually withdrawn but authorities have rejected calls for Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam to resign and for an independent inquiry into the handling of the protests by the police. Since then, protesters have broadened their demands to include greater democracy.   …

Police struggled Friday to contain thousands of Algerian demonstrators surging through the streets of the capital to protest plans for next month’s presidential election and celebrate the 65th anniversary of the start of Algeria’s war for independence from France. Waving Algerian and banned Berber flags, demonstrators urged each other to remain peaceful as police tried to push them off sidewalks or clear them out of a central square. It was the 37th such gathering since their pro-democracy movement began in February and changed Algeria’s political landscape . Thousands of people came from other towns to join the protest in Algiers, some demonstrating peacefully in the streets overnight. In their homes, many residents banged on pots and pans to show support. The visitors then rested with friends or family, or in their cars, and reconvened Friday morning to march through the capital. The protesters’ anger focuses on the Dec. 12 presidential election, to replace longtime leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika after he was pushed out in April. The pro-democracy protesters fear the vote will be manipulated by the country’s long-despised power structure.   They want an eventual election and brand-new leadership, but don’t want a vote organized by existing authorities, seen as corrupt and out of touch. “Dump the generals in the garbage!” shouted some demonstrators, referring notably to powerful army chief Gen. Ahmed Gaid Salah. Gaid Salah helped push out the previous president, but demonstrators increasingly see him as part of the system they want to change.   The war anniversary drew …

Iraq’s Shiite religious establishment on Friday condemned attacks on peaceful protesters after a month of massive anti-government demonstrations in which security forces have killed at least 250 people. Thousands of protesters continued to clash with security forces on two bridges leading from Baghdad’s Tahrir Square to the heavily fortified Green Zone where the government is headquartered. At least 50 people were injured by tear gas and rubber bullets, according to security and medical officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters. Ahmed al-Safi, delivering a Friday sermon on behalf of the country’s top clerics, said that they condemn “attacks on peaceful protesters and all forms of unjustified violence,” and that those responsible should be held accountable.   He also said authorities should not allow “any person or group or biased entity, or any regional or international party” to impose its view on the Iraqi people. The sermon was delivered in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, where masked men suspected of being linked to the security forces opened fire on protesters earlier this week, killing at least 18. The protests are fueled by anger at widespread corruption, high unemployment and poor public services. The protesters have called for the resignation of the government and sweeping changes to the political system established after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Iraq has held regular elections since then, but they have been dominated by sectarian political parties, many of which are close to Iran. The protests have …