New Quebec premier scraps tuition hike plan

 

Quebec Premier Pauline Marois

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/09/21/262744/quebec-kills-tuition-hike-plan/

Newly-elected Quebec Premier Pauline Marois has reversed a planned tuition hike that touched off months of violent protests in Canada's French-speaking province.

Marois, who started her job on Thursday, delivered on her electoral pledge to reinstate the USD 2,220 tuition.

“The new government is now in place,” she told reporters after the first cabinet meeting. “I intend to act rapidly to offer results to Quebecers, starting today, Day One of our mandate.”

The former premier, Jean Charest, had planned to increase tuition fees in a bid to make up for the country’s budget deficit.

Marois said she will also cancel the Liberals' controversial anti-protest law, known as Bill 78. The draconian law, whose main objective was to restrict freedom of assembly, criminalizes students’ strike and sets rules for gatherings of more than 50 people, requiring organizers to provide an eight-hour notice of the itinerary and length of the event.

"These two decisions will allow us to return peace to our streets and to reestablish rights and liberties," Marois was quoted as saying.

The new premier’s move drew applause from student groups.

"It's a victory for justice and equality," said Martine Desjardins, president of the FEUQ university student association.

"Together, we have written a chapter in the history of Quebec. Together, we have just proven that we can stand up and reach one of the student movement's greatest victories," he added.

Ahead of elections earlier this month, Marois had said that if her party - Parti Quebecois (PQP) - won and was able to form a new Quebec government, she would call for a referendum on the separation of Quebec from Canada.

 

Israel must denuclearize, Erdogan says

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123061§ionid=351020204


The Turkish premier says the international community should take action to disarm Israel as part of the efforts to make the Middle East a nuclear weapons-free zone.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday before leaving for the nuclear security summit in Washington, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the international community has turned a blind eye to Israel's nuclear program.

Pointing out that Israel is believed to be the sole possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle East and is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Erdogan said, "Until now, we haven't seen any request or intent from the international community with regards to Israel's (armament). We are going to ask the international community: why haven't you addressed this issue?"

The Turkish premier announced that he would raise the issue at the Washington summit and call on all 47 countries attending the forum to pressure Tel Aviv to relinquish its nuclear arsenal.

Erdogan said Iran's nuclear program has come under scrutiny as a result of its membership in the International Atomic Energy Agency whereas Israel, which has not signed the NPT, is "free to do what it wants."

Israel reportedly possesses 250 to 300 nuclear warheads.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to cancel plans to attend the Washington summit after learning that Cairo and Ankara would demand that Tel Aviv sign the NPT at the meeting.

Tymoshenko ousted as Ukraine premier

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119952§ionid=351020606


The Parliament in Ukraine has voted to dismantle the government of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, forcing the President-elect Viktor Yanukovich to hammer out a coalition in the parliament.

The no-confidence vote came Wednesday when 243 lawmakers voted in favor out of the 450 in the chamber, said Speaker Vladimir Litvin, according to the Associated Press.

Now, Yanukovich's Regions Party has to put together its own coalition in the parliament within 30 days and introduce his new cabinet within 60 days.

The parliament is expected to face a snap election if Yanukovich fails to do so.

Senior lawmaker Oleksander Yefremov maintained that there was "no need to rush" with establishing a ruling coalition.

"From my point of view, either this week or next we will complete the process of forming (a coalition)," he told reporters, according to Reuters.

Yanukovich narrowly defeated his pro-west archrival Tymoshenko in a runoff poll almost a month ago.

Despite her ouster, Tymoshenko has resisted pressure to quit saying she would form an opposition if her government dismissed.

"If the dismissal of the government is passed today, at that very same moment our government will leave the cabinet. Our political force will cross into the opposition," she was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Ukraine president-elect calls for premier resignation

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118350§ionid=351020606


Ukraine's President-elect Viktor Yanukovich has asked defeated candidate Yulia Tymoshenko to resign as prime minister and abandon her protests.

Tymoshenko's camp has announced that it is determined to challenge the results of Sunday's vote in court, and seeks a recount of votes in certain places.

This is while international observers say that the election was completely free and fair. Ukrains electoral commission has announced Yanukovich as the winner of the run-off to the country's presidential election by a margin of 3.48 percent.

"I call on the prime minister to resign and go into opposition," Yanukovich said in a statement posted on the website of his Party of the Regions.

"I want to remind Mrs. Tymoshenko that the basis of democracy is the will of the people. Democratic leaders always accept the results of the elections. The country does not need a new crisis," he added.

Tymoshenko has so far refused to concede defeat and had threatened to organize mass street rallies, should any evidence of rigging emerge, but Yanukovich maintains that his rival should accept his narrow victory.

Analysts believe that another round of street protests against the results of the presidential election would be a reminiscent of the 2004 Orange Revolution, which was a result of fraud allegations in the November 2004 election in which Yanukovich was running against outgoing President and then presidential hopeful Viktor Yushchenko.