Jakarta governor says six dead in Indonesia post-election unrest - Reuters

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Demonstrations over the outcome of last month’s presidential election gripped the heart of Indonesia’s capital on Wednesday after an overnight face-off between police and protesters in which, according to Jakarta’s governor, six people were killed.

The protests followed an announcement before dawn on Tuesday by the election commission confirming that President Joko Widodo had beaten his challenger, former general Prabowo Subianto, in the April 17 poll.

Crowds swelled in central Jakarta on Wednesday morning and police said they expected more protesters to join them before nightfall. Some of those arriving carried wooden poles and some had smeared toothpaste around their eyes, apparently to protect themselves from tear gas.

The majority of the protesters appeared to have come from outside Jakarta and police found envelopes containing money on some of the people they searched, National Police spokesman Muhamad Iqbal told a news conference.

“This is not a spontaneous incident, this is something by design. There are indications that the mobs are paid and bent on causing chaos,” he said.

Hundreds of students also protested peacefully in the city of Medan, in the north of the island of Sumatra, demanding an investigation into alleged election cheating, TVOne reported.

“WE KNOW WHO IS BEHIND THIS”

The General Election Commission (KPU) on Tuesday confirmed unofficial counts by private pollsters that gave Widodo a 55.5% share of votes against 44.5% Prabowo.

Widodo won more than 85 million votes of 154 million cast in the world’s third-largest democracy, but retired general Prabowo has alleged “massive cheating and irregularities”.

Prabowo’s legal director has said his campaign plans to contest the result in the Constitutional Court. Prabowo also launched a legal challenge after he was defeated in the 2014 election by Widodo, which was rejected.

On Monday, an election supervisory agency dismissed claims of systematic cheating, citing a lack of evidence. Independent observers have said the poll was free and fair.

Analysts have said Widodo’s double-digit margin of victory means the opposition does not have a strong case to claim the election was rigged, but Islamist supporters of Prabowo could cause considerable disruption.

Islamist groups, many of which support Prabowo, have in the past been able to mobilize hundreds of thousands of supporters.

From late 2016, they organized a series of protests against then-Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, the first ethnic-Chinese Christian to hold the job, who was subsequently jailed for insulting the Koran.

Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko said he believed there was “a systematic effort by a certain group ... that is riding on the situation to muddy the situation”, adding that authorities had seized two pistols from people involved in riots. “We know who is behind this, it is a matter of time.”

Protests that began calmly in the sprawling textile market neighborhood of Tanah Abang on Tuesday turned violent after nightfall, with police firing tear gas to disperse the crowd.

People protest in the streets of Tanah Abang area in Jakarta, Indonesia, May 22, 2019 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto/Hafidz Mubarak A/ via REUTERS

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan told TVOne that by the morning six people had died and 200 people had been wounded.

News website Tirto reported a man died of bullet wounds in Tanah Abang, quoting a doctor at a hospital near the site.

SOCIAL MEDIA BLOCK

Fadli Zon, deputy chairman of Gerindra, Prabowo’s political party, accused police of initiating an attack on protesters and said he found 171 bullets, including live rounds, when he visited the area on Wednesday morning.

“The public have a right to demonstrate. They are people who are concerned by cheating. They are not mobilized, paid or facilitated,” Zon said.

Prabowo campaign spokesman Dahnil Azar Simanjuntak called on “all sides to hold back and not commit violence”.

Police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said that security forces on the ground, including military personnel, were not armed with live bullets.

Indonesian authorities say 40,000 police and army personnel are on duty across Jakarta to maintain security.

Television footage showed smoke billowing from behind dozens of protesters in the streets of Tanah Abang on Wednesday, with some throwing firecrackers and tearing down public fences.

Slideshow (18 Images)

Many office buildings, businesses and embassies in downtown Jakarta were closed, as were train stations in the area.

Hundreds of police in riot gear blocked the usually busy Sarinah intersection to hold back a crowd they said was expected to swell further in the afternoon.

Chief security minister Wiranto said the government would temporarily block certain social media functions to prevent inflammatory hoaxes and fake news.

Australia, the United States, and Britain issued travel alerts warning of an increased risk of violence across Indonesia and advising citizens to stay away from protests.

Additional reporting by Gayatri Suroyo, Ed Davies and; Fanny Potkin; Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Nick Macfie

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-election-casualties/jakarta-governor-says-six-dead-in-indonesia-post-election-unrest-idUSKCN1SS0AS

2019-05-22 05:20:00Z
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May outlines details of 'new' Brexit deal offered to MPs - watch live - Guardian News

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LGiAb8IIds

2019-05-21 14:51:48Z
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Why Are Milkshakes Being Thrown at Right-Wing Politicians Like Nigel Farage? - The New York Times

LONDON — Until recently, an egg tended to be the object of choice for protesters hoping to splatter a politician’s clothing with a sticky mess and cause embarrassment without any serious injury.

Now, in several protests against rightist politicians in Britain, activists have found a new foodstuff to use as ammunition: milkshakes.

On Tuesday, a man was charged with assault and criminal damage after he threw a milkshake at Nigel Farage, one of Britain’s most prominent and divisive Brexit leaders, in the latest in a string of similar episodes.

Mr. Farage, a member of the European Parliament who heads the newly founded Brexit Party, had been campaigning on Monday afternoon in Newcastle, a city in northeastern England, when he was targeted.

As Mr. Farage walked away from the small crowd he was addressing, Paul Crowther, 32, lifted the lid from his milkshake and doused Mr. Farage with the creamy drink.

The politician’s navy suit, purple tie and light-blue Brexit Party badge were left dripping in banana and salted caramel milkshake, which Mr. Crowther told reporters he had bought at Five Guys, a nearby fast-food outlet.

“A complete failure,” Mr. Farage could be heard saying in video of the episode, as members of his security team led him away and others seized Mr. Crowther. “Could have spotted that a mile off.”

Mr. Farage seems to have been berating his security detail for not anticipating the action, particularly considering the current climate of “milkshaking,” as the practice has come to be known.

Mr. Crowther was charged with common assault and criminal damage, Northumbria Police said in a statement on Tuesday.

This month, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson, a British far-right activist and former leader of the extremist English Defense League who is also running for the European Parliament, was hit by two milkshakes in one day at the start of the recent spate.

Danyaal Mahmud, who first doused Mr. Robinson, told the newspaper The Observer that he had taken the action after becoming offended by what Mr. Robinson had been saying to him. He said he had used a milkshake simply because it had been in his hand at the time. The moment was captured on video and quickly spread on social media. A day later, in a different city in northern England, Mr. Robinson was again splattered with milkshake.

Carl Benjamin, a member of the right-wing U.K. Independence Party who is under investigation about a comment he made on Twitter regarding raping a female Labour lawmaker, was later targeted. He has been hit with four separate milkshake attacks so far.

Other attacks on the far right have been encouraged on social media with the hashtag #SplashTheFash. The practice has prompted an angry backlash from some rightists.

“Just to be clear, anyone that comes at me with a milkshake will need the straw to eat their meals for the next few months,” Mark Meechan, another UKIP candidate, wrote on Twitter this month.

The attacks have also caught the eye of the police. In preparation for a weekend rally for Mr. Farage in Edinburgh, officers have asked McDonald’s to briefly stop selling milkshakes on Saturday, a spokeswoman for the fast food chain said.

But why milkshakes?

Kevin Featherstone, a professor of European politics at the London School of Economics, said in an email that the strong visual impact was important.

“The recipient looks ridiculous and it debunks the politician’s aura,” he said. “The attacker is saying, ‘You don’t represent me, with your darker side of politics.’ ”

Benjamin Franks, a senior lecturer of social and political philosophy at the university of Glasgow, said in an email that, while he doubted that the original dousing had been planned, the practice had quickly taken off.

“I think it latterly caught the imagination of anti-fascist protesters because, as there is an abundance of fast food outlets in U.K. cities, it is easily available and — at least at first — could be carried without raising suspicion,” he said.

Milk has been adopted by some white supremacists as a symbol of their movement, but Mr. Franks said that the protesters’ actions had effectively turned that notion on its head.

“It turns a symbol used by the alt right — milk — to symbolize ‘whiteness’ and to mock ethnic groups with a greater predisposition to lactose intolerance, into an image of dramatic opposition,” Mr. Franks said.

Unlike some of the other politicians targeted, Mr. Farage, who has spent 20 years as a member of the European Parliament, is one of the most recognizable faces in the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union. The Brexit Party is currently leading the polls in Britain for the elections to the European Parliament.

After he was doused, Mr. Farage blamed “radicalized” Britons who disagreed with Brexit for making normal campaigning impossible.

And many have argued that attacking a candidate with food created an atmosphere of aggression and was an inadequate response to the polarizing politics of Mr. Farage.

Brendan Cox, the husband of Jo Cox — a member of the British Parliament who was killed in a 2016 attack — said that, while he disagreed with Mr. Farage’s politics and his “willingness to pander to hatred,” throwing milkshakes was not the answer.

“I don’t think throwing stuff at politicians you disagree with is a good idea,” he wrote on Twitter, adding that it normalized violence and intimidation.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/21/world/europe/milkshake-nigel-farage.html

2019-05-21 13:46:28Z
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Iran refuses Trump's offer of talks unless US shows 'respect' - CNN

In an exclusive interview with CNN, Zarif warned the US was "playing a very, very dangerous game" by boosting its military presence in the region.

Zarif criticized the US for sending the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Gulf. "Having all these military assets in a small area is in of itself prone to accidents," Zarif said. "Extreme prudence is required and the United States is playing a very, very dangerous game."

He accused Washington of walking out first on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, the 2015 deal designed to limit Iran's nuclear capabilities in return for the lifting of sanctions. "We acted in good faith," Zarif said of the deal, which was signed by the US, Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia. "We are not willing to talk to people who have broken their promises."

Earlier this month, Trump said Iran should be "calling me up." But on Sunday the President hardened his rhetoric. "If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran," Trump said in a tweet. "Never threaten the United States again!"

Iran would not bow to the threats, Zarif said. "Iran never negotiates with coercion. You cannot threaten any Iranian and expect them to engage. The way to do it is through respect, not through threats."

Zarif said there "will be painful consequences if there is an escalation." But also added that Iran was "not interested in escalation." Instead, he called for an immediate end to the "economic warfare" waged by the US on Iran, saying that sanctions were "depriving citizens of their means of livelihood."

"All we want to do is sell our oil," Zarif said, adding that the US was "just a bully preventing people from buying our oil."

He said US sanctions, which have hit the Iranian economy hard, "amounts to terrorism" on the country's citizens.

US 'left the negotiating table'

Iran announced it would be partially withdrawing from the deal on the one-year anniversary of the US's departure from the accord. It gave the remaining signatories of the deal until July 7 to ease restrictions on Iran's badly hit banking and oil sectors, or face unspecified retaliation.

European signatories are in a delicate position -- either side with the Trump administration and walk away from the deal, or preserve the pact by caving in to Iranian calls to ease restrictions, despite the threat of US sanctions.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt -- whose government has repeatedly pledged its support for the deal -- warned Iran of "consequences" if it does not comply with the agreement.

But Zarif said Iran's announcement was not an ultimatum to the remaining signatories, insisting that it was acting within the rules of the agreement. Instead, he pointed the finger at the US for leaving the negotiating table in the first place.

Zarif noted that the Trump administration had also walked away from the Paris climate accords, the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Uranium production quadrupled

Zarif's comments came after it emerged that Iran has quadrupled its rate of production of low-enriched uranium, according to the Tasnim news agency which cited an official at the Natanz nuclear facility Monday.

By ramping up production, Iran could soon exceed the 300-kilogram threshold agreed under the 2015 nuclear deal -- though without knowing the details of the country's current stockpile, it's difficult to predict when the threshold will be breached.

Under the deal, Iran can only enrich uranium at 3.67% -- suitable for a power plant and far below the 90% required for weapons grade.

The move puts further strain on what remains of the nuclear deal. Iran earlier this month announced it was partially withdrawing from the accord, following the US decision to walk away.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/21/middleeast/iran-foreign-minister-mohammed-javad-zarif-intl/index.html

2019-05-21 14:28:00Z
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Iran refuses Trump's offer of talks unless US shows 'respect' - CNN

In an exclusive interview with CNN, Zarif warned the US was "playing a very, very dangerous game" by boosting its military presence in the region.

Zarif criticized the US for sending the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Gulf. "Having all these military assets in a small area is in of itself prone to accidents," Zarif said. "Extreme prudence is required and the United States is playing a very, very dangerous game."

He accused Washington of walking out first on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, the 2015 deal designed to limit Iran's nuclear capabilities in return for the lifting of sanctions. "We acted in good faith," Zarif said of the deal, which was signed by the US, Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia. "We are not willing to talk to people who have broken their promises."

Earlier this month, Trump said Iran should be "calling me up." But on Sunday the President hardened his rhetoric. "If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran," Trump said in a tweet. "Never threaten the United States again!"

Iran would not bow to the threats, Zarif said. "Iran never negotiates with coercion. You cannot threaten any Iranian and expect them to engage. The way to do it is through respect, not through threats."

Zarif said there "will be painful consequences if there is an escalation." But also added that Iran was "not interested in escalation." Instead, he called for an immediate end to the "economic warfare" waged by the US on Iran, saying that sanctions were "depriving citizens of their means of livelihood."

'Economic war'

Iran announced it would be partially withdrawing from the deal on the one-year anniversary of the US's departure from the accord. It gave the remaining signatories of the deal until July 7 to ease restrictions on Iran's badly hit banking and oil sectors, or face unspecified retaliation.

European signatories are in a delicate position -- either side with the Trump administration and walk away from the deal, or preserve the pact by caving in to Iranian calls to ease restrictions, despite the threat of US sanctions.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt -- whose government has repeatedly pledged its support for the deal -- warned Iran of "consequences" if it does not comply with the agreement.

Uranium production quadrupled

Zarif's comments came after it emerged that Iran has quadrupled its rate of production of low-enriched uranium, according to the Tasnim news agency which cited an official at the Natanz nuclear facility Monday.

By ramping up production, Iran could soon exceed the 300-kilogram threshold agreed under the 2015 nuclear deal -- though without knowing the details of the country's current stockpile, it's difficult to predict when the threshold will be breached.

Under the deal, Iran can only enrich uranium at 3.67% -- suitable for a power plant and far below the 90% required for weapons grade.

The move puts further strain on what remains of the nuclear deal. Iran earlier this month announced it was partially withdrawing from the accord, following the US decision to walk away.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/21/middleeast/iran-foreign-minister-mohammed-javad-zarif-intl/index.html

2019-05-21 12:56:00Z
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Nepalese Sherpa Sets Mount Everest Record (Again), Climbing Mountain Twice In A Week - NPR

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Nepali mountaineer Kami Rita Sherpa hopes to break his own record for climbing Everest, aiming for 25 summits. He's seen here in 2018, spinning prayer wheels in Kathmandu. Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images

A Nepalese mountain climber has now climbed Mount Everest a record 24 times — and he's hoping to do it one more time before he retires. Kami Rita Sherpa, 49, has been climbing Everest since 1994.

"It's also the second time in a week that he's made the arduous trek," NPR's Sushmita Pathak reports from Mumbai. "The 49-year-old Sherpa guide had already broken his own record on May 15, when he scaled the summit for the 23rd time."

Rita started his most recent climb just three days after his 23rd summit of Everest. Early Tuesday morning, he stepped on the tallest peak in an area known as the roof of the world, leading a team of Indian police officers on the climb, according to The Kathmandu Post.

The highest mountain on Earth, Mount Everest's summit is more than 29,000 feet above sea level. The first time it was successfully scaled was in 1953 — and the southeast route that was taken by Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay is the same one Rita and many other climbers still use today.

In addition to Everest, Rita has also climbed a number of other imposing mountains, including K-2 and Cho-Oy.

Mountaineers who hope to climb Everest have a brief window each May in which weather conditions are most favorable. In the current season, 381 people have received permits to carry out expeditions on the mountain, as part of 44 teams, according to Nepal's Department of Tourism. Of those climbers, 14 are natives of Nepal.

As of Monday, at least 75 climbers had reached the top of Everest in the current season, according to The Rising Nepal.

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https://www.npr.org/2019/05/21/725324340/nepalese-sherpa-sets-mount-everest-record-again-climbing-mountain-twice-in-a-wee

2019-05-21 12:27:00Z
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Iran refuses Trump's offer of talks unless US shows 'respect' - CNN

In an exclusive interview with CNN, Zarif warned the US was "playing a very, very dangerous game" by boosting its military presence in the region.

Zarif criticized the US for sending the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Gulf. "Having all these military assets in a small area is in of itself prone to accidents, extreme prudence is required and the United States is playing a very, very dangerous game," Zarif said.

He accused Washington of walking out first on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, the 2015 deal designed to limit Iran's nuclear capabilities in return for the lifting of sanctions "We acted in good faith," Zarif said of the deal, which was signed by the US, Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia. "We are not willing to talk to people who have broken their promises."

Earlier this month, Trump said Iran should be "calling me up." But on Sunday the President hardened his rhetoric. "If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran," Trump said in a tweet. "Never threaten the United States again!"

Iran would not bow to the threats, Zarif said. "Iran never negotiates with coercion. You cannot threaten any Iranian and expect them to engage. The way to do it is through respect, not through threats."

Zarif's comments came after it emerged that Iran has quadrupled its rate of production of low-enriched uranium, according to the Tasnim news agency which cited an official at the Natanz nuclear facility Monday.

By ramping up production, Iran could soon exceed the 300-kilogram threshold agreed under the 2015 nuclear deal -- though without knowing the details of the country's current stockpile, it's difficult to predict when the threshold will be breached.

Under the deal, Iran can only enrich uranium at 3.67% -- suitable for a power plant and far below the 90% required for weapons grade.

The move puts further strain on what remains of the nuclear deal. Iran earlier this month announced it was partially withdrawing from the accord, following the US decision to walk away.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/21/middleeast/iran-foreign-minister-mohammed-javad-zarif-intl/index.html

2019-05-21 11:37:00Z
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