Cuba to enact new constitution launching modest state revamp

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba’s national assembly is set to enact the new constitution on Wednesday, allowing the government to launch a modest update of its centrally planned single party system with dozens of laws expected on everything from the economy to political structures. In a February referendum, Cubans overwhelmingly ratified the new constitution after a year of debate, updating its 1976, Soviet-era Magna Carta. While it retains socialism as “irrevocable”, it codifies changes in Cuban society since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, like the opening of the economy to free enterprise, and includes a political restructuring among other changes. The document specifies some of the new laws to be elaborated within the next two years, while more broadly stipulating the national assembly must establish a timeline for the around 50 laws needed to bring governing practice in step with the constitution.

Analysts say that while the constitution establishes the broad framework of this intense legislative process, there is leeway for it to enact more or less reform. “The formation of a more open and democratic country depends on this process and not on the constitution,” said Cuban lawyer and legal columnist for independent media Eloy Viera Cañive. He said Cubans needed to participate in the process, with recent the expansion of internet giving them a powerful tool to do so. Online protests already led the government to partially backtrack on new regulations on the private sector and the arts last December.

Some hope the upcoming legislative process could result in a greater modernization of the stagnant state-run economy, battling with declining aid from key ally Venezuela and a tightening U.S. trade embargo. “(We) will be closely watching whether, and how quickly, Cuba moves to turn the constitution’s recognition of new forms of private property into a law that provides ‘legal personality’ for small and medium-sized enterprises that are privately owned,” said Michael Bustamante, an assistant professor of Latin American history at Florida International University.

Cuba’s growing bevy of self-employed citizens have been clamoring for such a law, that would give them the right for example to import and export, ever since former President Raul Castro started expanding the private sector a decade ago. The first laws to be addressed, however, are expected to be others. The constitution stipulates that the national assembly must approve a new electoral law to reflect the restructuring of government within a half-year. Within the following three months, it must elect a president, widely expected to remain Miguel Diaz-Canel, who succeeded Castro last April. That president must then appoint provincial governors and a prime minister,- a new post separating the role of head of state from head of government.

The Magna Carta stipulates that within 18 months, new laws reflecting constitutional changes to the judicial system such as the presumption of innocence in criminal cases and habeas corpus should also be introduced. Meanwhile the process of a popular consultation and referendum on a new family code, that will address the controversial issue of gay marriage, should also be kicked off within two years.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-constitution/cuba-to-enact-new-constitution-launching-modest-state-revamp-idUSKCN1RM1VC?il=0

Peru's former president Kuczynski ordered to 10 days in jail

LIMA (Reuters) - A judge ordered Peru’s former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski to spend 10 days in jail and authorized a search of his properties in connection with a money-laundering probe into Brazilian builder Odebrecht, according to a judicial resolution. Police officers were outside Kuczynski’s home in Lima’s financial district early on Wednesday, a Reuters witness said.

Kuczynski’s attorney Nelson Miranda called the order “arbitrary” in broadcast comments on local TV and said he would file an appeal. Kuczynski has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and had vowed to cooperate with prosecutors investigating Odebrecht’s ties to local politicians. An 80-year-old former Wall Street banker who once held U.S. citizenship, Kuczynski narrowly won the 2016 presidential election but resigned a year ago in the face of near-certain impeachment by the opposition-controlled Congress. Kuczynski has blamed his ouster on a plot by opposition party Popular Force, whose leader Keiko Fujimori was jailed before trial in connection with Odebrecht last year on charges that she denies.

Peruvian judges have authorized several politicians, including two other former presidents, to be jailed before trial since Odebrecht admitted in late 2017 that it had secured lucrative government contracts across Latin America by bribing high-ranking politicians. In Peru, criminal suspects can be jailed without trial for up to three years if prosecutors can show they have evidence that would likely lead to a conviction and that the suspects would likely try to flee or obstruct their work.

“It’s an abusive detention order,” Gilbert Violeta, a lawmaker in the political party Kuczynski formed, said in an interview with local TV channel Canal N. “There’s no flight risk.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-peru-corruption/perus-former-president-kuczynski-ordered-to-10-days-in-jail-idUSKCN1RM1SA?il=0

Vatican tries 'retreat diplomacy' as South Sudan peace deal falters

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican brought together South Sudanese leaders for 24 hours of prayer and preaching on Wednesday, a last ditch attempt to heal bitter divisions a month before the war-ravaged nation is due to set up a unity government. The retreat, which a Vatican statement called “both ecumenical and diplomatic”, will end on Thursday with an address to the leaders by Pope Francis, who has expressed a desire to visit South Sudan. The leaders are all Christians, including President Salva Kiir, his former deputy turned rebel leader Riek Machar, and three other vice presidents.

Machar’s presence was in doubt until the last minute because aides said that Sudan, which is a guarantor to the September peace deal, has been restricting his movements in capital, Khartoum. Sudan, which is predominantly Muslim, and South Sudan, predominately Christian, fought each other for decades before the south became independent in 2011. Oil-rich South Sudan plunged into civil war in two years later after Kiir, a Dinka, fired Machar, from the Nuer ethnic group, from the vice presidency.

Brutal fighting broke out, characterized by extreme sexual violence, the use of child soldiers and attacks on civilians along ethnic faultlines. About 400,000 people died and more than a third of the country’s 12 million people were uprooted, sparking Africa’s worst refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Machar landed in Rome about an hour before the retreat was due to start in the Pope’s Vatican guest house. The leaders will live there and eat together during the retreat. Also attending are the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican communion; members of the South Sudan Council of Churches; and other African Catholic and Presbyterian Church leaders. Welby had proposed the retreat to the pope.

A Vatican statement said the retreat would offer the leaders “a propitious occasion for reflection and prayer, as well as an occasion for encounter and reconciliation”. An African Jesuit, Father Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, will preach. The two sides signed a power-sharing deal in September calling on the main rival factions to assemble, screen and train their respective forces to create a national army before the formation of a unity government. That has not happened. Instead, the government has dismissed U.N. investigations into war crimes and gang rape and asked for $285 million in funding to implement the deal. Last month, Brussels-based think-tank the International Crisis Group warned the deal risks total collapse before May 12, when the leaders are due to start sharing power.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-southsudan/vatican-tries-retreat-diplomacy-as-south-sudan-peace-deal-falters-idUSKCN1RM1XU?il=0

Aramco bonds' modest gains suggest demand was inflated: sources

DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco’s debut $12 billion bonds booked at best modest gains on Wednesday, their first trading day after some $100 billion in orders, suggesting part of the record-breaking demand was inflated, three banking and investment sources said. '''

Aramco chose to only issue $12 billion of debt, as its focus was to obtain favorable pricing to set a benchmark for its future financing activities. With almost $90 billion in demand left on the table, traders and fund managers expected the bonds to shoot up in value on Wednesday, but their performance was tepid. “The price was a bit inflated as there was a lot of excitement and even hubris around this issue and I would imagine that some of the buyers may have flipped it in the market today,” said a London-based fund manager who looked at the deal but decided not to invest in it. One trader and a senior banker said that, after realizing the deal would have been oversubscribed, investors boosted their orders to increase their chances to get a piece of the issuance.'''

Aramco’s longest-dated tranche, a $3 billion bond due in 2049, gained value in the secondary market, adding more than one cent on the dollar. But some of the shorter-dated bonds were flat or even lower than where they priced on Tuesday, and lower than in pre-sale grey market trading. The tranche with the shortest duration, a $1 billion bond due in 2022, was trading below the reoffer value at which it was sold on Tuesday, the trader said.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he estimated that demand for Aramco’s bonds was inflated by 20-30 percent due to the expected oversubscription. “We are seeing the truth of how much (of the demand) was fluff,” added a fund manager who participated in the deal.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-aramco-bonds-trading/aramco-bonds-modest-gains-suggest-demand-was-inflated-sources-idUSKCN1RM0Q8?il=0

>>6120623

Agreed, status doesn't/shouldn't negate, the possibility of criminal charges/jail if they are corrupt.

New Zealand votes to amend gun laws after Christchurch attack

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers in New Zealand voted almost unanimously on Wednesday to change gun laws, less than a month after its worst peacetime mass shooting, in which 50 people were killed in attacks on two mosques in Christchurch. Parliament passed the gun reform bill, the first substantial changes to New Zealand’s gun laws in decades, by 119 to 1. It must now receive royal assent from the governor general to become law. “There have been very few occasions when I have seen parliament come together in this way, and I can’t imagine circumstances when it is more necessary,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in presenting the legislation. Ardern banned the sale of all military style semi-automatics (MSSA) and assault rifles just six days after the March 15 shooting, and announced plans to tighten gun laws.

A lone gunman used semi-automatic guns in the Christchurch mosque attacks, killing 50 people as they attended Friday prayers. Authorities have charged Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, with 50 counts of murder following the attacks.

The new curbs bar the circulation and use of most semi-automatic firearms, parts that convert firearms into semi-automatic firearms, magazines over a certain capacity, and some shotguns. Existing gun laws had provided for a standard A-category gun license covering semi-automatics limited to seven shots. The bill grants an amnesty until Sept. 30 for people to surrender prohibited items. More than 300 weapons had already been handed in, police minister Stuart Nash told parliament.

The government has begun work on a second arms amendment bill it hopes to introduce in June, he said, adding that the measure would tackle issues regarding a gun registry, among others. The government has faced criticism from some quarters for rushing through the bill. Wednesday’s dissenting vote came from David Seymour, leader of the small free-market ACT Party, who questioned why the measure was being rushed through.

Ardern said majority lawmakers believe such guns had no place in New Zealand. “We are ultimately here because 50 people died and they do not have a voice,” she added. “We, in this house, are their voice and today we have used that voice wisely.”

Since last month’s shooting, New Zealand has tightened security and canceled several events in Auckland, its largest city, intended to commemorate ANZAC Day on April 25. “There is no information about a specific threat to ANZAC events,” police official Karyn Malthus, said in a statement. “However it’s important that the public be safe, and feel safe, at events in the current environment.” In 1996, neighboring Australia banned semi-automatic weapons and launched a gun buyback after the Port Arthur massacre that killed 35 people.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-newzealand-shooting-parliament/new-zealand-votes-to-amend-gun-laws-after-christchurch-attack-idUSKCN1RM0VX?il=0

EU to grant May a Brexit delay, with conditions

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders will grant Prime Minister Theresa May a second delay to Brexit at an emergency summit on Wednesday but will argue over how long and on what terms as they struggle to end Britain’s troublesome membership. French President Emmanuel Macron is pushing to withhold any commitment to extend Friday’s deadline much beyond elections to the European Parliament on May 23-26 unless May binds herself, and any potentially more anti-EU successor, not to disrupt the workings of Brussels in the final months of Britain’s membership.

But three weeks after Macron’s impatience with France’s historic cross-Channel rival dominated the last summit, when Brexit was put back by a fortnight, diplomats said he again will face a more cautious line from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said she favors an extension of “several months”. Just two days before Britain will otherwise leave the bloc with no treaty to clarify legal matters and no transition to new trading arrangements, EU diplomats suggest the April 12 deadline will be pushed back. Other leaders, too, insist they will not force Britain out against its will and May has asked them to wait until June 30 as she seeks help from her Labour opponents to build an elusive majority in parliament behind her plan for leaving the EU.

Much will hang on how May handles her peers. “It is not certain there will be a delay and it is not certain what that would mean,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said before hosting Macron and other leaders from Britain’s neighbors at pre-summit talks to discuss how to cope with the disruption of a no-deal Brexit. Summit chair Donald Tusk has proposed a “flextension” of nine months to a year to give Britain time to end deadlock over parliament’s refusal to ratify the treaty May agreed with the EU in November.

May has given herself an option to accept that by announcing she is ready to hold an election in Britain for EU lawmakers on May 23. If Britons do not vote, they must leave, deal or not, on June 1, according to a draft summit agreement seen by Reuters. Otherwise, Britain would leave as soon as it ratifies the deal, or without one when the extension ends.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu/eu-to-grant-may-a-brexit-delay-with-conditions-idUSKCN1RM0LX?il=0

>>6120836

Agreed! It about time for this to take hold, if people can't hold their government officials responsible for their actions no matter what the offense is..then there will never be true reform or freedom anywhere, just the illusion.

Incase anyone missed this these posts are very relevant to this Q drop!

>>6120621

>>6120502