World

Polls opened in Kazakhstan Sunday for a referendum to overhaul the constitution after deadly unrest in January ended founding leader Nursultan Nazarbayev’s three-decade grip on Central Asia’s richest country.

The bloodshed, which grew out of peaceful protests over a spike in car fuel prices — left more than 230 people dead and prompted authorities to call in troops from a Russia-led security bloc.

The drive for a “New Kazakhstan” in the wake of the violence has come from the man that Nazarbayev hand-picked to replace him as president in 2019, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

Tokayev, 69, describes the snap referendum as a shift from “super-presidential” rule that will strengthen parliament.

But it is the absence of special privileges for 81-year-old Nazarbayev that is the most eye-catching change to the constitution.

Prior to January’s crisis, Tokayev was widely seen as ruling in the shadow of Nazarbayev and his super-rich relatives. 

Even after stepping down as president, Nazarbayev retained the constitutional title of “Elbasy”, or “Leader of the Nation” — a role that afforded him influence over policymaking regardless of his formal position.

The new constitution does away with that status. 

Another amendment prevents relatives of the president from holding government positions — a clear nod to the influence of Nazarbayev’s family and in-laws, who lost powerful positions in the aftermath of the violence.

– ‘Never any justice’  –

Alnur Ilyashev, a long-time government critic, told AFP that the plebiscite is an attempt to “legitimise” Tokayev in the aftermath of the bloodshed and “formalise the retirement” of his predecessor.

The amendments were drafted “without the participation of protest-oriented civil society or authoritative human rights activists,” said Ilyashev, based in the largest city Almaty.

Despite a government push to sell the changes, voters appear ambivalent about the referendum that seeks to amend around a third of the constitution’s articles. 

Gulsara, 31, an Almaty cleaner, said she would vote for the constitution despite believing that the oil-rich government was failing in its pledge to raise living standards.

“They say the vote is about justice but there is never any justice here,” she told AFP. 

In the capital, whose renaming to “Nur-Sultan” marked the peak of Nazarbayev’s personality cult, 40-year-old construction manager Meirambek said he had not studied the amendments but would vote for them. 

“It will take time for (government) to overcome pessimism. But I think things will get better,” he said.

The constitution is almost certain to pass, and there has been no visible “no” campaign.

Voting in Almaty and Nur-Sultan began at 7:00 am (0100 GMT) and concludes at 8:00 pm (1400 GMT). Polling stations in the west will close an hour later, at 9:00 pm.

Kazakhstan’s New Year crisis remains poorly understood, with a days-long Internet shutdown at the peak of the unrest helping to further obscure the events. 

Protests stirred in the oil-producing west over a New Year fuel price hike, but it was Almaty — 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) away — that became the epicentre of armed clashes, looting and arson.

Nur-Sultan, which was called Astana prior to 2019, remained largely untouched. 

– Leadership struggle – 

Tokayev blamed the violence on “terrorists” seeking to seize power and issued a “shoot to kill” order to Kazakh troops.

But the arrest on treason charges of a Nazarbayev ally who served as national security chief at the time fuelled speculation that a leadership struggle was at the heart of the violence.

After stability was restored, Tokayev criticised Nazarbayev for allowing inequality to fester, while crediting his mentor’s state-building achievements.

Both former and current presidents are allies of neighbouring Russia, and the arrival of a 2,000-plus detachment of peacekeepers from a Moscow-led security bloc bolstered Tokayev’s control over the situation in January.

The Kremlin claimed the intervention requested by Tokayev did not extend to any political settlement, which was “the internal affair of Kazakhstan”.  

Nazarbayev has made few public appearances since the crisis but gave a rare interview published on Monday in which he pledged support for Tokayev and the constitutional changes.

He added that his relatives should be “held accountable” if they committed crimes, but were entitled to a fair trial — an apparent reference to nephew Kairat Satybaldy, a businessman presently detained on embezzlement charges.

Aman Sandhu checked store after store for a handgun in Canada’s British Columbia, hoping to make a purchase before a freeze on sales takes effect, but struggled to find one in stock.

“I’m concerned that if I don’t buy one now, I may never have the choice again,” Sandhu, a member of the Dawson Creek Sportsman’s Club, told AFP.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s proposed freeze on pistol sales — which he announced in the wake of a series of high-profile mass shootings in the United States — has pushed some Canadians to rush out to gun stores while they still can.

While Sandhu is keen to buy a pistol, he is also wary of becoming mired in new rules that include hefty penalties for even minor lapses.

“Jeez, if I slip up, I could screw up the rest of my firearms ownership,” he said, describing a handful of long guns in his collection.

Several gun stores in British Columbia province saw lines out the door within hours of the liberal leader’s declaration on Monday. Other shops across Canada said they sold out within days.

“Sales have been brisk,” said Jen Lavigne, co-owner of That Hunting Store in a strip mall on the outskirts of the capital Ottawa, nestled between a barbershop, a Chinese buffet restaurant, and a conservative lawmaker’s constituency office.

“We sold 100 handguns, or almost our entire stock, in the last three days, since the prime minister announced the freeze,” she said, showing off her nearly empty handgun cabinet.

– ‘Panic’ –

At DoubleTap Sports in Toronto, a similar scene unfolded. Owner Josko Kovic said the government announcement “created a panic, and people are now rushing out to buy handguns.”

“Almost all stores are sold out, including me,” he said.

According to government estimates, there are more than one million handguns in Canada, which has a population of 38 million people. Some 2,500 stores sell pistols in the country.

At present, a person must have a restricted firearms license in order to purchase a handgun. Most also require a special permit to transport them from any location to another, and they must be in secured cases.

Shooting ranges are about the only places where they can be legally fired.

The new regulations, unveiled after mass shootings killed 21 people at an elementary school in Texas and 10 at a supermarket in New York state, would prohibit the purchase, sale, transfer and importation of handguns.

They are expected to come into force in the fall, along with a border crackdown on weapons smuggling from the United States.

“We are capping the number of handguns in this country,” Trudeau said Monday, citing “a level of gun violence in our communities that is unacceptable.”

– ‘Catch-22’ –

Almost two-thirds of gun crimes in Canadian cities over the past decade involved handguns, according to government data.

At That Hunting Store, a man picking up a new handgun for competition, who identified himself as David, lamented the new restrictions on top of already cumbersome rules that drag out purchases.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “It takes two months just to get a license with all the background checks.”

Gun shop owners interviewed by AFP unanimously decried the freeze, which must still be passed by parliament.

“This measure is only going to hurt legal gun owners,”  Lavigne said, adding: “It’s not going to reduce any of the crime because the bad guys don’t follow the rules.”

Darryl Tomlinson, owner of Canadian Gun Guys in Winnipeg, said he worries for the future of his store and shooting range, as well as the social network of members.

“This handgun measure is going to take away livelihoods and break up communities,” he said.

“It’s a Catch-22. We’re busy now, but I fear we’re going to be put out of business in the fall,” Tomlinson said of the week’s sales boom.

War movie “Shershaah” marched off with Best Picture and Best Director as Bollywood’s Oscars returned for the first time since the pandemic began with an all-singing, all-dancing awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

“Shershaah”, depicting Indian war hero Vikram Batra, who was killed in the 1999 Kargil conflict with Pakistan, had been tipped to dominate after receiving 12 nods for the first International Indian Film Academy Awards since 2019.

“I would like to thank the family of Vikram Batra for helping me make this movie,” director Vishnuvardhan told the crowd at the end of the energetic, five-hour gala in the United Arab Emirates capital.

Indian A-listers packed the ceremony, which featured a belly-dancing number during the lavishly choreographed stage show. Bollywood, the Hindi-language film industry known for its strong musical tradition, is the world’s most prolific producer of movies.

Best leading male went to Vicky Kaushal for “Sardar Udham”, a drama depicting an Indian revolutionary’s revenge on the British officer behind the 1919 Amritsar massacre.

And Kriti Sanon won best female lead for “Mimi”, a comedy-drama that tackles the thriving surrogacy industry and attitudes towards single mothers. Sai Tamhankar won best supporting female for the same film.

But cricket movie “83”, which depicts India’s seminal 1983 World Cup triumph and received nine nominations, missed out on the major prizes.

The IIFA awards follow a torrid period when India and its film industry were sent reeling by Covid-19, which shuttered cinemas and triggered a rush to streaming services.

– ‘You saved the film industry’ –

Host Salman Khan, one of Bollywood’s heavyweights, opened proceedings by riding into the auditorium on a motorbike, a gold IIFA trophy perched on the handlebars.

“We saw that in the last two years the world closed down. Many of us lost our loved ones. Many lost their jobs as well. We faced many difficulties. All of us together overcame the difficulty,” he told the packed venue.

“When the world slowly opened, cinema halls were the last to open. But it got filled up first. You saved the film industry and everyone who worked in the industry,” said Khan.

Tiger Shroff, son of 1980s superstar Jacky Shroff and one of the new breed of actors, ripped off his jacket to perform the opening number bare-chested, in shades and sparkly trousers.

Outside, the green carpet — switched from red in 2007 to support climate awareness — bore glamorous stars such as Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Urvashi Rautela, along with Emirati royalty such as Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the minister of state for tolerance.

A group of nominees including A.R. Rahman, B. Praak, Jaani and Pritam shared the award for musical direction; Sharvari Wagh won best debut female and Ahan Shetty was named best debut male.

Pankaj Tripathi won best supporting male actor for “Ludo”. Jubin Nautiyal won best male playback singer — whose voice is dubbed over the actor’s — for his work on “Shershaah”.

The Hindi-language film industry was worth $2.5 billion in 2019 and produces more movies than any other. India also releases hundreds of films in its 21 other official languages every year.

But pandemic lockdowns sent the industry into a tailspin, with multiplex chains suffering major losses and dozens of small cinemas going bust. India’s media and entertainment earnings slumped by a quarter to $18.7 billion in 2020, according to accounting firm EY.

The theatre closures prompted a surge in subscriptions to streaming platforms, with American services Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney’s Hotstar tapping into a sharp growth in online audiences.

Together, they were one of the world’s most famous couples, but more than a decade later, Colombian superstar Shakira and FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique have called time on their relationship, they announced Saturday.

The 45-year-old “Hips don’t Lie” songstress is one of the biggest names in the global music industry and has sold more than 60 million albums.

Spanish football hero Pique, 35, won the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 European Championship, and is a three-time Champions League winner with Barcelona.

Shakira sang her infectious hit “Waka Waka”, the official song of the 2010 World Cup, at the event’s closing ceremony in South Africa.

They met during the filming of the anthem’s video and had exchanged messages a few weeks before the closing ceremony.

Once official, they soon became a darling of the paparazzi.

The couple share two sons and had been living together for years on the outskirts of Barcelona.

“We regret to confirm that we are separating. For the well-being of our children, who are our upmost priority, we request respect for (our) privacy,” the couple said in a statement.

With her mix of Latin and Arabic rhythms and rock influence, three-time Grammy winner Shakira is one of the biggest stars from Latin America, scoring major global hits with songs such as “Hips don’t Lie” and “Whenever, Wherever”.

In 2020, she performed with Jennifer Lopez at the half-time show of the NFL’s Super Bowl championship final in Miami, one of the most-watched half-hours in US television.

– Legal proceedings –

With Shakira by his side, Pique’s celebrity reached new levels, and the couple expanded their influence beyond music and sport.

Pique also became a successful entrepreneur.

In 2015, they organised a dinner with Japanese online retailer Rakuten, leading to one of Barcelona’s biggest sponsorship agreements.

Pique’s sports interests were not limited to football. His investment fund Kosmos in 2018 acquired the Davis Cup in a 25-year deal worth $3 billion.

Pique also took advantage of an off-season to study for a masters at Harvard University.

The couple announced their separation just over a week after Spanish court documents inched Shakira closer to standing trial in Spain for tax fraud after a Barcelona court dismissed an appeal from the singer.

Spanish prosecutors accuse her of defrauding the Spanish tax office out of 14.5 million euros ($15.5 million) on income earned between 2012 and 2014.

They say she moved to Spain in 2011 when her relationship with Pique became public but maintained official tax residency in the Bahamas until 2015.

Her defence lawyers say she moved to Spain full time only in 2015 and insist that her “conduct on tax matters has always been impeccable in all the countries she had to pay taxes”.

– ‘Darkest moment’ –

Pique, facing his own legal issues, saw Spain’s Supreme court in December annul a lower court ruling ordering him to pay the tax office 2.1 million euros in back taxes and fines.

Shakira had also been named in one of the largest ever leaks of financial documents in October 2021, known as the “Pandora Papers”, among public figures linked to offshore assets.

In an interview with AFP in 2019, Shakira said temporarily losing her voice two years earlier had been “the darkest moment of her life” and affected her “deeply”. 

She later recovered her voice naturally, without needing to undergo surgery as recommended by doctors and subsequently carried out a world tour in 2018.

A wildfire whipped by gale-force winds blazed through vegetation in a southern suburb of Athens on Saturday, the fire brigade said, forcing residents to evacuate and damaging about 20 properties.

The Greek Civil Protection agency issued an emergency appeal via SMS for people to leave Ano Voula as the flames reached homes.

Officials reported no casualties but  four more neighbourhoods were evacuated as the wind changed direction and drove the fire front towards the town of Vari, Grigoris Konstantelos, the mayor of Voula, told Skai TV.

Kostantelos said around 20 houses were damaged.

Six water-bombing aircrafts, three helicopters and municipal water tankers supported dozens of firefighters with 20 fire engines.

“The situation is very difficult and the wind does not help,” said Giannis Konstantatos, mayor of  Ellinikon-Argiroupoli, a neighbouring municipality.

“The atmosphere is suffocating, we have difficulty breathing,” he told Athens News Agency.

Police told people to leave their homes in images broadcast by Ant1 TV.

The Fire Brigade told AFP that the wind has dropped a bit so they are hopeful that the fire will slow its pace. 

Skai TV showed footage of a burning house with flames licking inside. 

Giorgos Papanikolaou, the mayor of Glyfada, where the fire first broke out, said it began at a high voltage electricity power station, according to the agency.

Later in the afternoon, a second fire broke out near Athens, in the village of Kouvaras but residential areas were not under threat.

Late in the day, the Fire Brigade told AFP that the wind has dropped raising hopes the spread of the fire will slow.

Last summer, Greece’s most severe heatwave in decades, which authorities blamed on climate change, saw fires destroy more than 100,000 hectares of forest and farmland, the country’s worst wildfire damage since 2007. 

More than 200 firefighters and technical equipment provided by European Union countries will be soon deployed to Greece to help boost the battle against large wildfires.

Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Romania and Norway will take part in the deployment, coordinated by the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism.