World

Tunisia launches wide-ranging national consultation on reforms

Tunisia on Saturday launched a wide-ranging national consultation that will feed into drafting a new constitution, the North African country's technology ministry said.

Part of a reform package pushed by President Kais Saied, who is seeking to bolster his authority, the exercise calls on citizens to send in suggestions and will last until March 20.

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Eligible topics include electoral, economic, financial, social, developmental, health, education, and cultural affairs.

The constitutional referendum is planned for July 25, 2022 — exactly a year after Saied sacked the government, suspended parliament, and seized wide-ranging powers.

His power grab was initially supported by many Tunisians, amid frustration surrounding repeated deadlocks within the fractious legislature in recent years.
The president later took steps to rule by decree, and in early December vowed to press on with reforms to the political system.

The consultation — dubbed “Your opinion, our decision” — is initially targeting youth centers through an electronic platform across the country’s 24 regions, the technology ministry said.

“The platform will be open to everyone from January 15,” it added.

Citizens will alternatively be able to give their views in local committees, since only 45 percent of Tunisian homes are connected to the internet.

Critics have said the move underlines the “populist” approach of the president, who won elections in 2019 with a landslide 73 percent of votes.

Saied’s one-man crusade to rebuild Tunisia’s broken political structures has sparked accusations that he is establishing a new autocracy in the birthplace of the Arab Spring uprisings.

Rights groups have pointed to military trials of opposition figures on charges such as “insulting the president.”

A senior official of Ennahdha — one of the country’s main political parties — was arrested by plainclothes officers on Friday.

The party decried Noureddine Bhiri’s arrest as “a kidnapping and dangerous precedent marking the country's entry into a tunnel to dictatorship.”

World

Russia’s Medvedev: Moscow forces may go to Kyiv or Lviv: RIA

Russian forces may have to advance as far as Kyiv or Lviv in Ukraine, Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview to Russian news agencies.

“Nothing can be ruled out here. If you need to get to Kyiv, then you need to go to Kyiv, if to Lviv, then you need to go to Lviv in order to destroy this infection,” RIA Novosti quoted Medvedev as saying on Friday.

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Russia’s Medvedev says West won’t leave Russia, China alone: TASS

World

China, US Navy in row over guided-missile destroyer in South China Sea

China’s defense ministry said on Friday that it yet again had to monitor and drive away the US Navy destroyer USS Milius that entered its territorial waters in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands.

“We sternly demand the US to immediately stop such provocative acts, otherwise it will bear the serious consequences of unforeseen incidents,” a spokesperson said in a statement from the Ministry of National Defense.

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The US Navy said the guided-missile destroyer was asserting its navigational rights and freedoms.

“Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas, including the freedoms of navigation and overflight, free trade and unimpeded commerce, and freedom of economic opportunity for South China Sea littoral nations,” the US Navy 7th fleet said in an emailed statement.

US forces operate in the South China Sea on a daily basis, the US Navy said.

It was the second straight day of a stand-off between the two super powers amid growing tensions in the South China Sea.

China claims vast swathes of the area that overlap with exclusive economic zones of various countries including the Philippines. Trillions of dollars in trade flow every year through the waterway.

China’s military says US warship illegally entered waters in South China Sea

World

Saudi Arabia on track to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030: Minister

Saudi Arabia is on track to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, the country’s Deputy Minister for Water told the UN this week.

Dr Abdulaziz al-Shaibani – who headed the Kingdom’s delegation participating in the UN 2023 Water Conference in New York between March 22-24 – said the Kingdom will achieve its goals thanks to the restructuring of the water sector and the development of the National Water Strategy, state news agency SPA reported Friday.

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Saudi Arabia has allocated $80 billion for water projects within the coming years as part of Saudi efforts to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.

Dr. Al-Shaibani added that the Kingdom launched Vision 2030 and adopted the National Water Strategy in line with the goals of sustainable development.

The National Water Strategy aims to preserve water resources, protect the environment, and provide high-quality and efficient services.

The objectives of the National Water Strategy are in line with SDG6 in enabling access to clean and safe water globally.

“The Kingdom aspires to provide sanitation services to all by increasing the percentage of the population covered by sanitation services to be more than 95 percent by 2030. Also, KSA established the National Water Efficiency and Conservation Center,” Dr. Al-Shaibani added.

He noted that sustainable and resilient water management was on the G20 agenda during Saudi Arabia’s presidency and stressed that the Kingdom is on the right track to improving water demand management in agriculture to achieve SDG6.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, saw all 193 member countries of the UN unanimously adopt a landmark set of development goals intended to accelerate the world’s efforts to eradicate poverty, end hunger, protect the oceans and address climate change by 2030.

The 17 sustainable development goals are broken down into 169 specific targets that each country has committed to try to achieve voluntarily over the next 15 years.

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