France is braced for violence at May Day rallies amid increasing anger about proposed employment changes, with similar fears about erosion of rights sending tens of thousands on to the streets of South Korea.
May Day protests were expected in cities across the world on Sunday, as economic crises and a rise in unemployment have fuelled anti-government sentiment.
France was on high alert after protests against planned labour changes this week descended into chaos, with cars set on fire and dozens of police officers being injured in Paris in clashes with protesters.
The French government hopes the changes will help reduce chronic unemployment, which is at about 10%. But critics believe they threaten hard-won workers’ rights by making it easier to lay off people in economically difficult times.
The government has already watered down the employment bill but this has failed to calm the anger among students and workers demanding it be withdrawn.
The prime minister, Manuel Valls, issued a warning on Sunday to groups of so-called casseurs (breakers) who appear on the sidelines of marches actively seeking confrontation with police, leading to violent clashes.
“We will respond with the greatest of determination to these troublemakers … the attacks and violence against security forces are unacceptable,” he said.
The labourminister, Myriam El Khomri, defended the proposed changes, saying debate on the bill should now shift to parliament where it is scheduled to be heard in two days.
“This bill is fair and necessary,” she told local media, adding that reformist unions that represent most workers were behind the changes.
In France, May Day celebrations often expose bitter divisions in the the far-right party Front National, with former leader Jean-Marie Le Pen and his daughter and party chief, Marine, holding rival rallies.
The 87-year-old criticised his estranged daughter and predicted she would be roundly beaten in presidential elections next year.
International Workers Day was started in Chicago in 1886 by a union demanding an eight-hour workday, and is now celebrated around the world.
In South Korea – which also has high youth unemployment – proposed changes to its labour laws have sparked similar anger among workers, and tens of thousands protested against the employment bill.
Labour activists say the changes being pushed by President Park Geun-hye and her conservative Saenuri party will make it easier for companies to sack workers.
“Let’s fight together against the evil bill!” activists and unionised workers chanted during a protest in front of city hall in the capital, Seoul.
About 100,000 workers joined a May Day parade in Red Square, Moscow, waving Russian flags and balloons near the Kremlin walls, police said.
The carefully choreographed spectacle harked back to Soviet times and took place amid a persisting economic crisis brought on by western sanctions over Russian involvement in Ukraine and low oil prices.
Crowd with banners
In Istanbul, security measures included 25,000 police on duty and numerous roads closed on a day that regularly sees clashes between Turkish protesters and police.
Security was especially high at the main Taksim Square, where demonstrators are expected to try to gather despite a banning order.
May Day comes at a time of particular tension in Turkey after a succession of deadly attacksblamed on jihadis and Kurdish militants.
Controversy is also growing over the presidency of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whom critics accuse of increasingly authoritarian rule.
Several foreign missions have warned their citizens about the risk of violence in Istanbul on 1 May. The US embassy has warned of the “potential for violent confrontation between demonstrators and security personnel”.
Last year, Turkish police used water cannon and teargas to disperse May Day protesters in Istanbul, while police and demonstrators engaged in pitched battles in some areas.
Parliament passed a controversial security bill last year that gave the police greater powers to crack down on protests.
Taksim Square has been a flashpoint for clashes on May Day since dozens of people were killed there in 1977 when modern Turkey was going through one of its most turbulent periods. Thanks for reading.
Chelsea Star, John Obi Mikel Snubs MASSIVE Offer
Chelsea of London and Super Eagles of Nigeria midfielder, John Mikel Obi has reportedly snubbed a massive move to Turkey in anticipation of a contract extension at the Stamford Bridge.
According to reports in The Sun UK on Saturday, the Super Eagles captain rejected the chance to earn N49.5million (£110k) -a-week at Galatasaray or Fenerbahce.
The tabloid reports that “Galatasaray and Fenerbahce were keen on the midfielder, 29, with a reported £110,000-a-week on the table in January but he chose to stay at the Bridge.”
Mikel had fallen out of favour with manager, Jose Mourinho before the Portuguese tactician was sacked in December, but has been a regular in the first team under interim manager, Guus Hiddink.
Antonio Conte takes over in the summer and Mikel’s form has paved the way for him to be part of the Italian’s plans.
The Nigerian has been at Chelsea for ten years and has a year left on his deal.
Diane Abbott says claims of antisemitism within Labour are smear
Jeremy Corbyn faced further calls for a tougher crackdown on antisemitism within Labour on Sunday after one of his allies dismissed the crisis as a “smear” against the party and its members.
Diane Abbott, the shadow international development secretary, dismissed claims that the party had a problem with antisemitism, provoking fresh criticism of the Labour leadership.
She suggested the problem was procedural and instead lay within Labour’s rules governing antisemitic and other racist comments, which she said would be corrected following a review of the party’s guidelines.
“Every single claim of antisemitism – I think 12 – has resulted in a suspension. Ken was suspended within hours. That is 12 allegations when 200,000 [new members] have joined the party,” Abbott said.
“It’s a smear to say that Labour has a problem with antisemitism. It is something like a smear against ordinary party members.”
Her comments, made on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show on Sunday morning, was followed by more criticism of the leadership’s response to repeated claims of antisemitism by Labour MPs and one major party donor.
On Friday, Corbyn suspended Ken Livingstone from the party and announced an independent inquiry into antisemitism in Labour, to be led by Shami Chakrabarti, the former head of Liberty.
It follows incendiary comments by the former London mayor that appeared to claim that Adolf Hitler, whose regime was responsible for the deaths of six million Jews, supported Zionism.
Livingstone has refused to apologise to the Jewish community for the comments. He said this weekend the row was not about antisemitism but rather a plot by “embittered old Blairite MPs” to destabilise Corbyn’s leadership.
In a heated exchange over the party’s response to the comments, Marr challenged Abbott to explain why, if Labour had no broader problem with antisemitism, the leader had announced an inquiry into the issue.
The shadow minister implied that the problem was with the rules of the party: “There are issues about process. There is nothing in the rules about racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia. We are going to make the rules explicit.”
Corbyn later reaffirmed his pledge to rid the party of all forms of racism. Speaking at a May Day rally in London, the Labour leader said the party “stands absolutely against racism in any form”. He said: “We stand united as a Labour movement recognising our faith diversity, our ethnic diversity, and from that diversity comes up strength.”
However, Labour donor Michael Foster, who gave the party £400,000 before the general election in which he stood as a candidate, said some members of the party’s leadership continued to “vilify Jews as part of their political shtick”.
He called for the Chakrabarti inquiry to be widened, and said on BBC Radio 4’s The World this Weekend he would not donate to the party nationally because of the leadership’s approach.
Meanwhile, many others within the parliamentary party remained dismayed at the response from Abbott following contrite comments by the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, on Saturday. Ben Bradshaw, the former culture minister, said Labour members were furious at how allegations of antisemitism had been handled.
“I’m increasingly of the view that Ken Livingstone is a Conservative party spy who’s been planted in the Labour party and has been sleeping and has now emerged to try to do as much damage as he possibly can.
“And that’s certainly the view of my loyal Labour party members and activists and voters who came up to me all day yesterday saying: what is going on? They were outraged by his comments. If he comes back into the party, they won’t vote for our party. It’s a really serious issue,” he said.
Louise Ellman, the Jewish MP for Liverpool Riverside, said the response had been “much too slow”. The party is investigating a complaint that she has been subject to antisemitic abuse at a meeting of the local party.
Len McCluskey, the head of Unite, Britain’s biggest union and the party’s biggest donor, criticised Livingstone and backed his suspension. However, he told Pienaar’s Politics on BBC Radio 5 Live: “This is nothing more than a cynical attempt to manipulate antisemitism for political ends because it is all about constantly challenging Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
“The idea that there is an antisemitic crisis within the Labour party is absolutely offensive but it is being used in order to challenge Jeremy Corbyn. Once the mood music of antisemitism dies down, then next week and the week after there will be another subject. It is an issue that comes up because somebody says something stupid and then immediately it becomes a crisis.”
Corbyn announced an independent review last week and pledged to tighten party codes of conduct in an attempt to control the row over antisemitism, which has seen the MP Naz Shah as well as Livingstone suspended by the party.
He has faced calls from Israeli politicians and diplomats to give a more “unequivocal” condemnation, and warnings – including from the party’s London mayoral candidate, Sadiq Khan – that Labour would be punished in the 5 May elections.
Mark Regev, Israel’s ambassador to London, called for Corbyn to distance himself from Hamas, which he described as an antisemitic organisation. “The left has a wonderful, proud history of fighting antisemitism, but we have seen some language over the last two or three weeks which is very concerning,” Regev said.
“They have the right to criticise the Israeli government, Israeli citizens do it every day,” he said. “It is about demonising the Jewish state. It is not about criticising this or that Israeli policy; it is about the demonising and vilification of my country and its very right to exist.
“It is important that the leadership is not neutral or agnostic about antisemitism. I’ll give you an example; you have had too many people of the progressive side of politics who have embraced Hamas and Hezbollah. Both of them are antisemitic organisations. You just have to read their charters which read like The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
“If you are progressive, you are embracing an organisation which is homophobic, which is misogynistic and which is openly antisemitic – what is progressive about that? There needs to be an unequivocal message from the leadership saying there is no solidarity with antisemites.” Thanks for reading.
Corbyn ally Len McCluskey attacks ‘treacherous’ Labour MPs
A key ally of Jeremy Corbyn has accused MPs of employing treacherous tactics designed to undermine Labour’s leader, as an analysis of the latest polls by a leading academic suggests the party is on course for its worst local election results for 35 years.
Len McCluskey, the head of the UK’s biggest union, Unite, claimed former shadow ministers Liz Kendall and Michael Dugher, Gordon Brown’s former aide Ian Austin and newly elected MP Wes Streeting have made interventions meant to damage Corbyn.
McCluskey’s intervention comes as a new projection conducted for the Guardian shows that Labour is on course to lose 175 council seats in Thursday’s elections .
Such a result would be the worst local election performance in opposition since 1982 when voting took place against the background of the Falklands war.
Labour’s performance in the first nationwide electoral test since Corbyn won the party leadership with an overwhelming majority last year is seen in Westminster as a day of reckoning.
The decision by McCluskey, the head of the the party’s main financial backer, to escalate the party’s row by naming names follows weeks of frustration over attacks by the party’s MPs on Corbyn.
It will be seen as a shot across the bows of some of Corbyn’s harshest critics to ensure there is not a leadership challenge after Thursday’s results come through.
Both McCluskey and Labour MP Diane Abbott, a longstanding Corbyn supporter, claimed on Sunday that the damaging row over antisemitism, sparked by Ken Livingstone’s controversial comments last week, are being manipulated for political ends.
In an interview with the Guardian, McCluskey said that some MPs had been “nothing short of treacherous” and set “stupid traps” for Corbyn and his supporters by claiming the party should win a certain number of seats.
“We have had Michael Dugher saying Jeremy has 99 days to prove himself and suddenly 5 May becomes a litmus test on Corbyn’s ability to lead the party.
“We have had Liz Kendall saying we should win 400 council seats. This is the woman who got 4.5% of the vote in the leadership election. We won’t be taking lectures off people like that who are interested in setting false traps,” he said.
McCluskey said two other MPs instigated an internal party row last month after protesting that the fast food chain McDonald’s had been banned from sponsoring a stall at Labour’s conference.
“People like Wes Streeting and Ian Austin going on about McDonald’s ... It is laughable. [McDonald’s] is viciously anti-trade union and is attacking the bakers’ union and has been ripping off young kids with zero-hours contracts. And suddenly we have Labour MPs coming to their rescue. It is not about McDonald’s – it is about attacking Jeremy Corbyn,” he said.
McCluskey predicted the party would lose seats in Scotland and Wales but said that such results should not spark any moves from within the party against Corbyn.
“[Corbyn’s team] have to be given time to get their message beyond the media who attack them every single day aided and abetted by a bunch of Labour MPs. It is as if they wake up every day and think ‘What stick can we beat Jeremy Corbyn with today?’” he said.
McCluskey claimed that Austin should face disciplinary procedures for showing “disrespect” to Corbyn after Austin, the MP for Dudley North, had reportedly confronted Corbyn at a recent parliamentary Labour party meeting.
Analysis Local elections 2016: how to judge what Labour's result will mean for the party
“Some of the individuals, including Ian Austin, are behaving despicably. Should that sort of disrespect be dealt with? I think it should, by the chief whip,” he said.
McCluskey was interviewed on Wednesday – after Labour MP Naz Shah apologised to parliament for writing that Israel could be moved to the US, but
before Livingstone made remarks appearing to claim that Adolf Hitler was a supporter of Zionism.
Austin said McCluskey’s attack was “really unfair”.
“I am very surprised that the leader of a union I have been a member of for 30 years would say something like this without contacting me.
“We are working really hard for these elections and everyone else should too,” he said.
Dugher said: “I am not apologising for standing against antisemitism and for urging the leadership to do more which eventually they did.
“Its not a ‘stupid test’ to say that the Labour party must show that we are capable of ever winning a general election. Too many of Len’s members can’t afford endless Conservative governments.”
In response, Kendall said the party should this week show “clear evidence” that it can win in 2020 and maintained that the party should be aiming to win 400 council seats.
“The people we came into politics to serve rely on us to deliver Labour councils and a realistic prospect of winning in 2020,” she said.
Streeting did not respond to a request for a comment.
Using the average of the latest opinion poll results, including the Opinium/Observer poll carried out after the antisemitism row last week, Steve Fisher, of Oxford University, one of the country’s leading elections experts, predicts that Labour could be on course for losses of 175 local council seats, while the Conservatives could gain 30.
On the national equivalent vote share, which tends to be a good predictor of subsequent general elections, Labour looks likely to be one percentage point behind the Conservatives, Fisher calculates – on a par with 2011.
That compares to the six-point lead achieved by Ed Miliband in the 2012 local elections; and approximately 15 points needed for a majority at a general election.
Labour MPs will also be watching the party’s performance in the Scottish parliament in Holyrood, and the Welsh assembly, closely. Some polls suggested Labour could even slip into third place in Scotland, behind a reinvigorated Conservative party led by the popular Ruth Davidson.
In Wales, Corbyn has been requested by his Labour colleagues not to visit, amid fears that his intervention would not be helpful in a hard-fought contest, with Ukip keen to pick up seats.
He has deliberately shifted his party to the left, basing its appeal on a strong anti-austerity message, which plays well in Labour heartlands. But if the party is to win a general election in 2020, it will also need to appeal to swing voters in traditionally Conservative areas.
Council elections are notoriously difficult to predict, and Fisher points out that Labour could yet make some gains – or even worse losses than his central projection, based on the Conservatives’ average poll lead of 3.8 percentage points, suggests.
But as well as the number of seats won or lost, Corbyn’s critics in parliament will also be closely watching the party’s performance in bellwether councils such as Crawley, where it currently has 19 seats against the Tories’ 18.
The Liberal Democrats could be set to win up to 90 local council seats this week, the new projections suggest, as they seek to rebuild their shattered power-base following the collapse of their share of the vote after they joined the coalition government in 2010.
At a May Day rally on Sunday, Corbyn insisted that Labour is “united” in opposing antisemitism. He has announced an independent review and pledged to tighten party codes of conduct in a bid to put a lid on the row – which has seen Shah and Livingstone suspended.
Corbyn has received warnings – including from the London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan - that the party would be punished in the 5 May elections.
Opponents have accused him of acting too slowly to deal with incidents, most notably Livingstone’s incendiary assertion that Hitler was a supporter of Zionism before he “went mad and ended up killing six million Jews”. Thanks for reading.
Freight train leaks hazardous material after derailing near Washington DC
A freight train derailed close to Washington DC early Sunday and is leaking hazardous material and causing disruption in the area of the capital.
More than 10 cars are understood to have left the tracks, a small portion of the long, 175-car southbound train. No injuries have been reported.
At least three cars are leaking a hazardous substance, according to Doug Buchanan, a spokesman for the District of Columbia fire department.
Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a news conference that the leak was contained, but officials were not sure how much had leaked.
“The fumes should not cause you any problems and you should not be able to smell them anywhere else,” said DC Fire and EMS Deputy Chief John Donnelly.
It was not immediately clear what caused the derailment. Crews were inspecting the tracks, which are used by CSX, Metro and Amtrak, and were working to restore service. Photos tweeted by DC Fire and Emergency after the derailment showed cars in a zigzag line across the tracks.
Chris Nellum said he lives nearby and his window looks directly over the tracks.
The train derailed near the Rhode Island Avenue metro station shortly before 7am local time and the nearby avenue was closed to road traffic.
A witness told local radio station WTOP that he heard “this fantastic noise” outside his home on Sunday morning and rushed to the window, from where he could see the railroad tracks.
“I thought it was an airplane too close to the building. Then I looked out and I said, ‘Wow, the train turned over,’” said the local resident.
Buchanan said there were no evacuations of residents.
“It looks like our guys have got this pretty well contained. Two, possibly three, of the derailed cars are leaking hazardous material. Exactly what that is and the extent of the leak remains unclear,” he said.
At least one of the chemicals leaking from the damaged train is understood to be sodium hydroxide, according to the local NBC TV station, citing multiple sources at the scene.
Also known as lye and caustic soda, the odorless chemical may generate substantial heat when dissolved in water, which may be sufficient to ignite combustible materials, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
The CDC said it could cause eye and skin irritation and burns when exposed. It is also damaging to the respiratory system if the fumes are inhaled.
Pictures posted on the fire department’s Twitter account showed several cars lying on their sides by the tracks on the main train route into the city, including tank cars, bulk material cars and box cars.
Authorities have not issued official instructions to local residents, but one near the scene told a local television station that he had been instructed to stay inside by firefighters.
Resident Chris Nellum said he lived nearby and his window looked directly over the tracks.
“I thought it was like a semi-truck coming toward the building, and when I looked out the window, I saw cars piling up,” said Nellum, who had just moved in the night before. “So I’m not even used to hearing trains. It was jarring.”
Nellum said his girlfriend tried to leave the area and was told to stay put, but she eventually found a way out.
“She’s an environmentalist, so she is very concerned about whatever is leaking,” he said.
The CSX train is owned by CSX Transportation, the international freight company based in Jacksonville, Florida. The company put out a statement later on Sunday morning to say that the service was heading towards Hamlet, North Carolina, from Cumberland, Maryland, when the derailment happened. The train was just under half empty, with 94 of the 175 cars loaded with freight.
A portion of the Washington DC metro service on the Red line has been suspended in the area with bus shuttles acting as a replacement for passenger train services.
An underground gas line was also ruptured during the derailment and gas supplies have been turned off in the area, although it is unclear how many people are affected by the closure, according to the local NBC station. Thanks for reading.
Your Military Policies Cannot Work, Ex-minister Tells Buhari
Former minister of education, Oby Ezekwesili has described as “archaic”, President Muhammdu Buhari’s economic policies for the country.
She affirmed that it was impossible for the policies used during the military regime to work in a democratic setting. She stated that the effect of the policies have been detrimental to the masses.
“What did not work in 1984 cannot possibly be a solution in a global economy that’s much more integrated”, she said at The Platform, a yearly programme organised by Covenant Christian Center on Saturday
Ezekwesili further said stressed that, “During the first coming of this our new president, a command and control economic system was adopted, and inflation spiralled, jobs were lost and the economic growth level dipped.
“In over one year, the president is still holding to the premise that command and control is the only way out, and we have lost the single digits inflation status we maintained in past administrations.
“The weakest and the most vulnerable suffer the impact of inflation the most. Enormous power is being abused as a result of archaic and opaque economic policies.”
Ezekwesili emphasized that the primary purpose of government is to provide security of lives and properties, as well as improve the welfare of the people.
She also criticized the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), saying the apex bank needs to “regain its autonomy”.
“We need to rethink the present monetary policy of the administration, actually the monetary policy was relatively safe guarded from political domination, it will do well to give a semblance of autonomy back to the Central Bank, so that the central bank would speak the language of economics and not this language of rhetoric and language of anecdote, and language of suppositions that are no longer premised on hard economic facts,” she said.
“It is important that the central bank will retrace its steps and get back in right monetary policy making. Its crucial. If we lost that, it’s going to be tough to regain.”
Leaked TTIP documents cast doubt on EU-US trade deal
Talks for a free trade deal between Europe and the US face a serious impasse with “irreconcilable” differences in some areas, according to leaked negotiating texts.
The two sides are also at odds over US demands that would require the EU to break promises it has made on environmental protection.
President Obama said last week he was confident a deal could be reached. But the leaked negotiating drafts and internal positions, which were obtained by Greenpeace and seen by the Guardian, paint a very different picture.
“Discussions on cosmetics remain very difficult and the scope of common objectives fairly limited,” says one internal note by EU trade negotiators. Because of a European ban on animal testing, “the EU and US approaches remain irreconcilable and EU market access problems will therefore remain,” the note says.
Talks on engineering were also “characterised by continuous reluctance on the part of the US to engage in this sector,” the confidential briefing says.
These problems are not mentioned in a separate report on the state of the talks, also leaked, which the European commission has prepared for scrutiny by the European parliament.
These outline the positions exchanged between EU and US negotiators between the 12th and the 13th round of TTIP talks, which took place in New York last week.
The public document offers a robust defence of the EU’s right to regulate and create a court-like system for disputes, unlike the internal note, which does not mention them.
Jorgo Riss, the director of Greenpeace EU, said: “These leaked documents give us an unparalleled look at the scope of US demands to lower or circumvent EU protections for environment and public health as part of TTIP. The EU position is very bad, and the US position is terrible. The prospect of a TTIP compromising within that range is an awful one. The way is being cleared for a race to the bottom in environmental, consumer protection and public health standards.”
US proposals include an obligation on the EU to inform its industries of any planned regulations in advance, and to allow them the same input into EU regulatory processes as European firms.
American firms could influence the content of EU laws at several points along the regulatory line, including through a plethora of proposed technical working groups and committees.
“Before the EU could even pass a regulation, it would have to go through a gruelling impact assessment process in which the bloc would have to show interested US parties that no voluntary measures, or less exacting regulatory ones, were possible,” Riss said.
The US is also proposing new articles on “science and risk” to give firms greater regulatory say. Disputes over pesticides residues and food safety would be dealt with by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Codex Alimentarius system.
Environmentalists say the body has loose rules on corporate influence, allowing employees of companies such as BASF, Nestle and Coca Cola to sit on – and sometimes lead – national delegations. Some 44% of its decisions on pesticides residues have been less stringent than EU ones, with 40% of rough equivalence and 16% being more demanding, according to Greenpeace.
GM foods could also find a widening window into Europe, with the US pushing for a working group to adopt a “low level presence initiative”. This would allow the import of cargo containing traces of unauthorised GM strains. The EU currently blocks these because of food safety and cross-pollination concerns.
The EU has not yet accepted the US demands, but they are uncontested in the negotiators’ note, and no counter-proposals have been made in these areas.
In January, the EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström said [pdf] the precautionary principle, obliging regulatory caution where there is scientific doubt, was a core and non-negotiable EU principle. She said: “We will defend the precautionary approach to regulation in Europe, in TTIP and in all our other agreements.” But the principle is not mentioned in the 248 pages of TTIP negotiating texts.
The European commission has also promised to safeguard environmental laws, defend international standards and protect the EU’s right to set high green benchmarks in future.
But the new leak will not placate critics of the deal, who have pointed to attempts by fossil fuel firms and others to influence its outcome, as a sign of things to come.
The EU negotiators internal note says “the US expressed that it would have to consult with its chemical industry on how to position itself” on issues of market access for non-agricultural goods.
Where industry lobbying in regulatory processes is concerned, the US also “insisted” that the EU be “required” to involve US experts in its development of electrotechnical standards. Thanks for reading.
