Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox block Route 4 in protest against IDF conscriptionThe demonstrators belonged to the extremist Jerusalem Faction, which numbers some 60,000 members and regularly demonstrates against the enlistment of yeshiva students. Protesters held banners reading “To jail and not the army,” “We will die rather than draft,” “Stalin is here,” and “Russia is here.” Police arrested six demonstrators and forcefully cleared the highway after the demonstrators refused to leave, opening the road to traffic after two hours.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/hundreds-of-ultra-orthodox-block-route-4-in-protest-against-idf-conscription/https://archive.is/QztjXTurkey’s top election authority restores newly elected pro-Kurdish mayor’s right to hold officeTurkey’s highest electoral authority on Wednesday restored the right of a newly elected mayor from a pro-Kurdish party to hold office, overturning an earlier decision by a lower body that had sparked widespread protests and led to dozens of arrests.
https://apnews.com/article/turkey-prokurdish-mayor-mandate-664beac0ea24911a8b5f8af4dd1e6361Senegal's new president appoints Ousmane Sonko as the country's prime ministerBoth were released from prison just days before the March elections through an amnesty granted by the outgoing president Macky Sall. Mr Sonko was the original opposition candidate for the presidency but was arrested and ruled ineligible to stand for the post — a move that sparked major protests across the country.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/senegals-new-president-appoints-ousmane-sonko-countrys-prime-ministerSouth African parliament speaker resigns amid corruption probeSouth Africa's National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said on Wednesday that she was resigning from her position amid an investigation into alleged corruption during her tenure as defence minister. Mapisa-Nqakula's home was raided last month by investigators as part of the corruption inquiry, who did not provide details on the investigation or the allegations.
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/south-african-parliament-speaker-resigns-amid-corruption-probe-2024-04-03/UK's Labour cuts ties with Muslim org labelled 'Islamist' by GoveLabour told The Telegraph on Monday that it had adopted a policy "not to engage" after Gove identified the organisation as "Islamist". MEND has said that Labour’s decision will risk alienating Muslim voters, particularly as Labour MPs have previously attended events organised by the group.
https://www.newarab.com/news/labour-cuts-ties-muslim-org-labelled-islamist-goveIrish unions join forces to demand major workers’ rights reformsThe campaign is timed to coincide with the required transposition of a European Union directive on minimum wages and collective bargaining, which the Irish government must write into law by November of this year. The directive requires countries where less than 80 per cent of workers are covered by collective agreements to introduce new measures to promote collective bargaining between unions and employers.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/irish-unions-join-forces-demand-major-workers-rights-reformsUkraine lowers its conscription age to 25 to replenish its beleaguered troopsThe new laws, which will also do away with some draft exemptions and create an online registry for recruits, might add around 50,000 troops to the military, said Oksana Zabolotna, an analyst with the Center for United Actions, a government watchdog in Kyiv.
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-conscription-mobilization-251058a942a253f3eaec2c53373adf03 Trump-proofing weapons for Ukraine: Allies consider moving arms group into NATO During the NATO foreign ministerial meeting in Brussels Wednesday and Thursday, officials are expected to discuss a range of options, including gradually moving the organization — called the Ukraine Defense Contact Group — into the alliance’s control, according to three European officials and a U.S. official with knowledge of the internal deliberations. The goal would be to finalize the move at the NATO leaders’ summit in Washington in July, one of the officials said.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/02/allies-consider-moving-ukraine-arms-group-into-nato-to-shield-it-from-trump-00150151https://archive.is/hQPFfChina’s former justice minister Tang Yijun facing corruption probe, top anti-graft agency saysIn a brief statement released on its website on Tuesday, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China’s top anti-corruption and political disciplinary agency, said Tang, 63, chairman of the Jiangxi provincial political advisory body, was “undergoing disciplinary review and supervisory investigation” and was “suspected of serious violations of discipline and law” – a euphemism for corruption.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3257603/chinas-former-justice-minister-tang-yijun-facing-corruption-probe-top-anti-graft-agency-says?module=top_story&pgtype=subsectionhttps://archive.is/glRFmGisela Gaytán, candidate for mayor of violence-plagued town in Mexico, is shot deadGaytán was killed in San Miguel Octopan — a community that has been especially hard hit by organized crime — just after she presented her security strategy. The Morena party has not yet commented on the attack.
https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-04-02/gisela-gaytan-candidate-for-mayor-of-violence-plagued-town-in-mexico-is-shot-dead.html