Tunisian police fired tear gas at protesters as they tried to storm local government buildings in several towns in the third day of growing protests over unemployment.
Several thousand youths were reportedly demonstrating on Thursday outside government offices in Kasserine, an impoverished town where a young graduate died at the weekend while protesting about his joblessness.
Police also reportedly clashed with protesters in Jamdouba, Beja and Skira, and in Sidi Bouzid, where youths chanted "jobs or another revolution," according to state media and witnesses.
The government meanwhile confirmed that a police officer was killed when protesters attacked his car on Wednesday in Feriana, in the Kasserine region. Unrest elsewhere left about 40 people injured during clashes between police and protesters.
The demonstrations began at the weekend in Kasserine when Ridha Yahyaoui, a 28-year-old unemployed graduate from the town, was electrocuted after climbing a power pole to protest at being refused a state job.
The protests come almost exactly five years after Tunisia’s 2011 uprising, which demanded the overthrow of the government and succeeded in removing then president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali who had ruled the country for three decades.
The Tunisian Nawaat blog reported demonstrations in 16 provinces of Tunisia, although MEE cannot confirm this information.
- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/fresh-protests-tunisia-erupt-over-unemployment-and-poverty-1253106075#sthash.wZyf7Tpe.dpuf
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi stressed that the country is ready to show appropriate reaction if the other side of a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, whose implementation started a few days ago, violates its commitments.
Iran is prepared to take reciprocal measures in the technical field, Salehi said in a televised interview with IRIB Wednesday night.
“In the AEOI, a committee is tasked with monitoring the events related to the JCPOA (implementation) and relevant developments in the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France, and Germany) members states,” he noted.
He said based on the committee’s observations, Iran would see what those countries do so that it could show appropriate reaction within an acceptable period of time.
“The challenges the other side of the deal can cause include their failure to fulfill their commitments, but we have contemplated on certain measures, which cannot be explained yet,” the Iranian nuclear chief added.
If they do not fulfill their commitments based on the JCPOA framework – including their sanctions-related, trade, and commercial undertakings, Iran will show appropriate reaction to any breaches of the deal, Salehi reiterated.
The reciprocal measures would be mainly in the technical domain, he went on to say.
The remarks came after Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution on Wednesday urged Iranian officials to take reciprocal measures should the other parties to last year’s nuclear deal, the US in particular, fail to fulfill their commitments.
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei called on the Iranian administration and members of the Committee for Monitoring the Implementation of the JCPOA to beware of US deceits.
“The other side is a deceiver, do not trust its smile and mask,” the Leader warned, stressing that the current policies and objectives of the US are the same violent anti-Iran goals followed by Washington in the past.
“(Iranian) officials should make sure that the Americans do fulfill their commitments in the JCPOA implementation; otherwise, they surely should retaliate,” Imam Khamenei stressed.
The logo of Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche is seen at a plant in the central Swiss village of Rotkreuz November 6, 2013.REUTERS/ARND WIEGMANN/FILES
BY ADITYA KALRA-Thu Jan 21, 2016
India's federal drugs controller issued an alert on Thursday, asking states to ensure Swiss drugmaker Roche's cancer treatment Avastin was not administered to treat eyes, after its usage hampered vision in 15 patients.
Despite being a cancer drug, Avastin is often used by doctors globally for eye ailments even though it does not have U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for that purpose.
Studies have shown eye injections of Avastin can curb vision loss.
However, fifteen patients at a hospital in western Gujarat state underwent surgery last week when they reported swelling and pain in their eyes following usage of Avastin.
The advisory, issued by India's top drugs regulator G.N. Singh, comes two days after Reuters reported Gujarat had asked distributors to recall one batch of the medicine, while the southern state of Telangana ordered a freeze on all its batches.
"Regulatory authorities may alert their inspectorate staff to monitor the movement of the said drug and its use in ophthalmology," Singh wrote in the alert notice, adding the drug was not approved in India for such usage.
Roche's India unit said it was aware of the government notification and reiterated it does not promote use of Avastin for eye ailments for which it does not have an approval.
Still, the company said on Tuesday it was taking events in Gujarat "very seriously" and initiated an internal probe.
The C.H. Nagri Municipal Eye Hospital in Gujarat's Ahmedabad city administered the drug to 7,000 people over the last decade but has now stopped.
Cases of shoddy medical treatment and spurious drugs are often reported in India, where the public health system remains overburdened and people, especially in smaller towns and villages, struggle to access basic health services.
Gujarat authorities are also investigating whether the drug involved in last week's incident was a fake copy of Avastin.
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Mark Potter)
By Katy Watson and Sarah Treanor-18 January 2016
The Pacific island of Tonga is the most obese country in the world. Up to 40% of the population is thought to have type 2 diabetes and life expectancy is falling. One of the main causes is a cheap, fatty kind of meat - mutton flaps - imported from New Zealand.
With a stern expression crossing her face, 82-year-old Papiloa Bloomfield Foliaki almost leaps from her seat to show us something she says will help us understand.
She comes back into the sitting room of her small hotel in Nuku A'Lofa, Tonga's capital, brandishing a large model of an ancient wooden boat.
"We Tongans rowed here, across thousands and thousands of miles of sea, in boats like these. Then we flipped them over and used the old boats as houses."
She frowns. "But, nobody wants Tongan houses any more, because something Western, something modern, people think is better, people associated Tongan style of homes with poverty.
"Just like with our food."
The traditional Tongan diet is fish, root vegetables and coconuts, as you might expect for a palm-fringed island in the middle of the Pacific.
But at some point in the middle of the 20th Century, offcuts of meat began arriving in the Pacific islands - including turkey tails from the US and mutton flaps from New Zealand.
They were cheap and became hugely popular.
"People think something imported is superior," says Foliaki, a former nurse, activist and politician, who now works in the hotel business, despite being one of few Tongans over the age of 80.
"And you have a situation where fishermen spear their fish - sell it - and go and buy mutton flaps. People don't have the education to know what is bad for their health."
What are mutton flaps?
The low-quality end of a sheep's rib - connected to the high-quality ribs and spare ribs - also known as breast
Every 100g includes approximately 40g fat (half of it saturated fat) and contains 420 calories
Flaps make up 9-12% of a sheep's carcass by weight, but only 3-5 % by value
In the Pacific, they are sometimes the only cut of the animal found on sale
New Zealand and Australia sell large quantities of mutton flaps to China, Mexico and African countries
In Europe they are used in doner kebabs
Source: Deborah Gewertz and Frederick Errington, authors of Flap Food Nations in the Pacific Islands
In 1973, 7% of the population were suffering from non-communicable disease - a phrase that has come to be used as synonymous with diabetes in Tonga. By 2004 the figure was 18%. It is now 34% according to the Tongan Health Ministry, thoughsome think the figure could be as high as 40%.
"There's this whole generation in Tonga that was brought up on mutton flaps," says Sunia Soakai, a health planning officer for the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.
"Mutton flaps are the discarded parts of the lamb that are not fit for consumption in New Zealand. They were able to dump this stuff on the Pacific countries."
Tongan fishermen still catch fish by spear, mostly at night, returning well before dawn.
Customers who want the best of the catch come down to meet them off the boat. Others can turn up at the little fish market in the port's car park later in the morning.
But when we visited, there were few customers. Hand-speared fish is not cheap, and it's only foreign boats that trawl with nets, for a catch that is immediately exported. Some of the hand-caught fish is also sent abroad - there is demand in Hawaii for Tongan speared snapper.
But even here at the fish market the smell of barbecued meat wafts across the car park. About 50m away, dozens of spits are rotating half-chickens and mutton flaps - from a distance the flaps looks like slabs of unsliced bacon, more fat than meat. The singeing fat gives off a powerful, pungent odour.
According to Soakai, it's not unusual for a Tongan to eat 1kg of mutton flaps in one sitting. He did so himself in days gone by.
"Over the years, I got quite big, I probably tipped the scales at 170kg (375lb, 26st 11lb)," he says.
But Soakai eventually changed his ways and shed about 70kg - for three reasons.
"I have a five-year-old son," he explains. "If I continued my lifestyle I would orphan my son. The second trigger was that I work in the health sector; it became an issue of credibility. And the third - I was diagnosed with diabetes."
Some scientists believe Tonga's problem is partly down to genetics - that Pacific islanders in the past had to survive long periods without food so their bodies are programmed to cling on to fats.
The Food Chain will host a live debate about diabetes on 5 February - tweet your questions to @BBCWorldService using the hashtag #BBCdiabetes
But there's no question the role that society plays here.
"The bigger you are, that's beauty," says Drew Havea, chair of the civil Society Forum of Tonga.
Size and status in Tonga have often gone together. The Tongan King Tupou IV, who died in 2006, holds the Guinness record for being the heaviest-ever monarch - 200kg (33 stone, or 440lbs). Being thin would traditionally have indicated a position lower in the social pecking order.
"We need to learn that if you are skinny you are not hungry," says Havea.
In his later years, the king lost some weight, and was photographed exercising, in an attempt to show Tongans how to improve their health.
Image copyrightAlamy
There is also a tradition of feasting, which to an outsider almost resembles competitive eating.
"Good food, in a Tongan sense, is lots of food," says the Rev Dr Ma'afu Palu, a minister who is making it his mission to preach healthier eating.
He's among many who criticise church leaders for failing to set a good example to their parishioners. Ministers are authority figures in this deeply religious society and according to Palu, 85% of them are obese, thanks partly to the regular feasts they take part in.
The obesity epidemic is not solely down to mutton flaps and turkey tails. Lots of fatty canned meat is consumed - sometimes from giant 2.7kg (96oz) tins.
And then there are fizzy drinks.
"You have to understand that in Tonga we are catching up," says Lepaola Vaea, deputy Chief Executive at the Ministry of Revenue and Customs.
"We used to watch American movies and TV shows and everyone was drinking soda. We sat there and thought, 'Wow, I would love to drink soda and we're poor because we're drinking water.' But now everyone's drinking water and we are drinking soda!"
In 2008, Vaea tried to raise duty on mutton flaps, as Fiji has successfully done.
The result: "There was a large public outcry," she says.
"People are addicted."
It says a lot about Tongan eating habits that a healthfood restaurant here serves fish and chips. But this really is healthier than a lot of Tongan dinners.
The country of 100,000 struggles to cope with the consequences of this diet.
Life expectancy, which was once in the mid-70s, has fallen to 64.
One doctor at the National Diabetes Centre looked at the queues outside her clinic and told us, "I always feel like I'm drowning."
From the hospital we went to visit a family where the whole family - husband and wife, three daughters and the husband's mother - all have type 2 diabetes.
One of the girls got sick at 14 and for nearly four years a wound on her leg failed to heal. Eventually she had the leg amputated, and this year received a prosthetic leg from the Mormon church.
Despite government efforts to make people more aware of the risks of diabetes and obesity, there is still a long way to go. Many of the islanders still do not yet appear to be changing their lifestyle or diet.
Curbing diabetes will take generations, one doctor assured us, and things will get worse before they get better.
A leftist political party head said that it is important to include the interests and wishes of the Tamil people who fought for their interest in the new constitution in order to resolve the national problem.
Leader of the new Sama Samaja party Wicramabahu Karunarathna said the following at the presentation of his party proposals to the formulation of a new constitution today 19th raising awareness to Gagana. He said the new constitution should be created based on equality, self governing and self determination theories and strength them by a Tamil homeland anatomy to the North and East.
An army with a Singhalese flavour Dr. Wicramabahu Karunarathna said there is a Sinhalese flavor in the country’s army and the required Tamil and the Muslim flavours has not been included yet.
He pointed out that all the regiment in the army is activated only through a Singhalese language command and he said there should be at least one regiment commanded in Tamil and a similar right should be given to the Muslim community as well.
The government’s authoritarian style Dr. Karunarathna said in order to change the government’s authoritarian attitude the executive presidency should be completely abolished and a mechanism accountable to the parliament should be created.
Dr. Wickramabahu Karunarathna said in order to democratize the state governing process, independent commissions should be established and prevent racial, religious and VIP intimidations and create a state mechanism where all people live without fear and hindrance.
Rural, Plantation and fisheries Dr. Wickaramabahu proposed in order to include the rural, plantation and the fisheries community in to the democratic mainstream powers should be evenly distributed.
If the Muslim community is demanding a separate unit in the eastern province, an identity for the Muslim community should also be confirmed in a way giving a casual citizenship for the community who wish to join them.
The Nawa Sama Samaja committee which discussed ideas about the new constitution said a credible mechanism should be formed to inquire the opinions of civil societies around the country and join them with the parliament.
Following my request addressed to the Swiss Ambassador to invite to Jaffna the Swiss Institute for Federalism of Fribourg, Switzerland for a series of Seminars and Conferences on devolution of power, Mr.Davide Vignati, First Secretary, Political Affairs of the Embassy of Switzerland, Colombo contacted Dr.Eva Maria Belser who is here, the Director of the Institute who confirmed her availability. It is she who identified Professor Nico Steytler from Cape Town and Mr.Maurizio Maggetti to accompany her. I had considered such a Seminar urgent on account of the Constitutional drafting process which was being put in motion early this month in Colombo.
Thus with the support of the Institute for Constitutional Studies we had jointly organized this Seminar mainly for the benefit of the Northern and Eastern Provincial Council Members. I had then suggested that the University fraternity as well as the Civil Society too must be given an opportunity to listen to the learned speakers. The Swiss Embassy readily agreed.
While the Seminar today will predominantly be a platform from which our Resource Persons, Professor Eva Maria Belser of the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, Maurizio Maggetti, Research Fellow at the Institute of Federalism (Incidentally he has worked in Sri Lanka with the Berghof Foundation and Sarvodaya) and Professor Nico Steytler of the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa would be sharing their knowledge and wisdom, both theoretical and practical on the whole issue of different constitutional models for power sharing during this two hours’ session, their inputs would be beneficial to all of us Sri Lankans to identify constitutional mechanisms that would suit our particular ethnic background and context. Solutions would have to be later identified on the basis of the knowledge we receive to suit the existing circumstances.
It gives me great pleasure while welcoming the learned speakers to also welcome all you Civil Society members. Civil Society is the aggregate of non- governmental organizations and institutions that manifest the interest and will of Citizens. They belong to the third sector of Society distinct from Government and Private Sector business community. In other words you all are individuals and organizations in a Society who are independent of the Government. You are mostly non – governmental organizations and professionals. Today the world over in democratic societies apart from the Government the Private Sector and the Civil Society including NGOs, play an important part in helping any community to develop and prosper.
You are as much a part of Society as any others. If the people or their political representatives are not taking adequate interest with regard to the future of the polity it is your duty to direct the people. That way your position is one of trustees of the conscience of the people. You owe it to the people to lead them. You are amply qualified to do so with many of you being professionals. You will be able to appreciate today the thoughts and words of the learned Lecturers. You need to learn from them and help the masses themselves to learn from you. You have to educate the masses at the grass root level.Read More
Governor K. Rosaiah delivers the customary address to the State Assembly at the Secretariat in Chennai on Wednesday. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa (third from left) looks on. Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam
The Indian government should prevail upon the Sri Lankan government to take action against those who had committed crimes against Tamils in the last phase of the war, Tamil Nadu Government K. Rosaiah demanded in the state Assembly on Wednesday.
But the entire opposition parties staged a walkout alleging the ruling AIADMK government had failed in all fronts and its failure to release water from Chembarambakkam Lake caused the flood in Chennai.
DMK floor leader M.K. Stalin told reporters that even though his party had demanded a judicial inquiry into the issue, the state government had not given any proper response so far. The Governor’s address also made no reference to the issue.
Recalling the resolution adopted in the state Assembly asking the Indian government to take steps to adopt a resolution in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for an international inquiry into the war crimes and violations of the Geneva convention by the Sri Lankan government, he expressed the hope that the Indian government should persuade Sri Lanka to restore the Tamil families their lands. “It should ensure equal rights and an opportunity to live peacefully with dignity,” he said.
The Governor also condemned the regular attacks on Tamil fishermen and seizure of their boats and nets by the Sri Lankan Navy, saying the reluctance on the part of the Sri Lankan government in releasing fishing boats even after the release of fishermen had caused agony among the fisher folk in Tamil Nadu.
“It is our duty to find a lasting and permanent solution to this issue by retrieving Katchatheevu and restoring traditional rights of our fishermen,” he said.
To reduce the fishing pressure in the Palk Strait and also to expand deep sea fishing capabilities to tap the untapped deep sea fisheries, the Governor wanted the Centre to sanction a comprehensive financial package of Rs. 1,520 crore for the purpose.
Mr. Rosaiah said the highest rain fall in a single day in the last 100 years caused devastating floods and inundated large parts of Chennai and coastal districts. He also urged the Centre to release Rs. 17,432 crore demanded by the state government in the supplementary memorandum to undertake restoration works without delay.
A security officer of the Borella Kanaththa Anis Thuwan revealed that Kuttimany, Thangadurai, Jegan and 53 other Tamil inmates who were killed inside the Welikada prison in 1983 was buried inside the Kanatta cemetery inside two large pits.
Anis Thuwan who was an employee of the Colombo Municipal Council in 1980 has been working in the Borella cemetery as a security guard. Following the ethnic riots in end of July in 1983, Sri Lankan army has brought 53 corpses to the Borella cemetery and buried. “The last week in July 1983 one night a group of Sri Lanka army soldiers was digging two large pits 10’ length, width and deep inside the Borella cemetery using backhoe machines. Following that two army trucks came inside and when I climbed and see I saw 35 dead bodies of males. The army dumped the dead bodies to the pit. It is learnt that those dead bodies would be the corpses of Kuttimani and other Tamil inmates. The place is currently used as a car park of the Devi Balika School. When this incident was occurred a manager of the Borella cemetery immediately called the mayor of the Colombo Municipal Council and the mayor instructed the manager to allow the army to complete their work. On the next day another 18 dead bodies were dumped inside another pit behind the Kanatta which the dates are not sure” said Anis Thuwan. On July 25th and 26th 1983, 53 Tamil inmates were murdered inside the Welikada prison. Among the killed trained combatants such as Kuttimani, Thangadurai and Jegan were believed to be amongst. Before this in February 1983 the courts sentenced them to death. 1in 1983 July 23rd following the killing of 13 Sri Lankan army soldiers by the tigers the first attack of the Tamil inmates within the Welikada prison came under target on early hours of July 25th. Later 35 dead bodies of Tamil inmates were found. The bodies were buried at the Borella Kanatta without informing their relatives
Tunisians protest on 20 January 2016 in Tunis (AFP) 
Tunisian police fired tear gas at protesters as they tried to storm local government buildings in several towns in the third day of growing protests over unemployment.
