Iraq's Next General Election to Be Held in June 2021
Arab World
Asharq Al-Awsat
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. (Reuters)
Iraq will hold its next general elections on June 6 of 2021, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi announced on Friday. “I announce June 6 of 2021 as a date for the early parliament elections, and we will do our best to make this election a success,” Kadhimi said in a televised speech. Holding elections was among Kadhimi’s pledges as he was appointed to his post earlier this year. The polls are also a key demand for anti-government protests that erupted last year. Protests began on Oct. 1 and continued for several months, with hundreds of thousands of Iraqis demanding jobs, services and the removal of the ruling elite, which they said was corrupt. The protests led to the resignation of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who was replaced in May by Kadhimi, a former intelligence chief.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2422701/iraqs-next-general-election-be-held-june-2021
Beyonce's 'Black Is King' Hopes to Shift Perception of Being Black
Entertainment
Asharq Al-Awsat
Beyonce. (AP)
Beyonce’s new visual album celebrating Black culture was greeted with rapturous reviews on Friday, arriving in the midst of a cultural reckoning about race and social justice. “Black is King,” which reimagines the story of the “The Lion King” movie with humans, is intended to “shift the global perception of the word Black,” the R&B singer said in a message marking its release. Work on the album, which features lush music videos celebrating the search for identity and Black beauty in contemporary and historical times, began a year ago. But its release on Friday followed a surge of worldwide protests about racial injustice prompted by the killings of Black men and women at the hands of US police. Variety called the album a “colorful reminder of the power and glory of Black, here in America but even more so in Africa.” The #BlackIsKing hashtag was among the top three trending items on Twitter on Friday. “We’re grateful to Beyoncé for this celebration of the Black experience,” tweeted Black culture website Essence.com. The Guardian review called it “Beyonce’s love song to the Black diaspora” and praised the involvement of African artists like Yemi Alade, Lord Afrixana and Shatta Wale. Actress Lupita Nyong’o, musician Pharrell Williams and supermodel Naomi Campbell are among other celebrities making cameo appearances. Beyonce wrote in an Instagram posting that the recent calls for social change had made the album even more relevant than she had hoped when she began working on it. “I believe that when Black people tell our own stories, we can shift the axis of the world and tell our REAL history of generational wealth and richness of soul that are not told in our history books,” she wrote. “Black is King” was released on the Disney+ streaming platform.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2422696/beyonces-black-king-hopes-shift-perception-being-black
Facebook Brings Official Music Videos to Users' Feed
Technology
Asharq Al-Awsat
Taylor Swift. (AP)
Facebook Inc said on Friday that its users in the United States would be able to view and share official music videos on its platform, in a move to better compete with Alphabet Inc’s video platform YouTube. Facebook, which had 2.7 billion monthly active users in the last quarter, said it inked deals with Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group among others. Universal as a group is home to Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Post Malone, while Sony’s big names include Beyonce, Mariah Carey and Alicia Keyes. All the three music houses boast a host of back catalogues. Bloomberg News first reported the news earlier on Friday.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2422666/facebook-brings-official-music-videos-users-feed
Eusebio Leal, who Oversaw Renewal of Old Havana, Dies at 77
Varieties
Asharq Al-Awsat
In this Nov. 23, 2018 file photo, Havana City Historian Eusebio Leal Spengler walks in the courtyard of the City Museum in Havana, Cuba. (AP)
Eusebio Leal Spengler, who oversaw the transformation of crumbling Old Havana to an immaculately restored colonial tourist attraction, becoming the de-facto mayor of the historic city center and one of the nation’s most prominent public intellectuals, has died. He was 77. He had been fighting cancer. Leal and his restoration efforts became so famous along the crowded streets of Havana that it often felt like he was holding court when he appeared in public, usually in his trademark, simple gray dress shirts and slacks. Elderly women would tell Leal that the water that had stopped working in their apartment was back on thanks to him. Others would lodge complaints about their living situation or praise him for reviving Old Havana. “To call it reconstruction of something that seemed dead and buried may draw dirty looks and dismissals that ours is a romantic crusade,” Leal wrote in a city bulletin in 2010. “But if that were the case, we wouldn’t feel embarrassed to be seen as romantics in times that are so apocalyptic.” Born in Havana on Sept. 11, 1942, Leal earned a doctorate in historical sciences from the University of Havana, honing his skills as an intellectual entrepreneur who recognized that the resurrection of the city’s historic district could be a moneymaker. That became especially important when communist Cuba embraced foreign tourism en masse after the disbanding of the Soviet Union and the loss of its billions of dollars in annual subsidies to the island brought the economy to the brink of total collapse. After a series of nationwide economic reforms and the Dec. 2014 declaration of detente with the US, Leal’s government-driven restoration of Old Havana gained momentum with the opening of hundreds of private businesses from elegant restaurant to art galleries that filled with tourists as visits to the country soared. The boom raised worries about gentrification as expatriate Cubans or those with ties to foreign capital bought out longtime residents and turned their homes into businesses. Leal spoke little about the new phenomenon, but consistently argued for respecting Old Havana’s past without being trapped by it. “I’ve always spoken out against the mummification of the city,” he said in 2016. “It wouldn’t be wise to show off the past under glass.” In 1967, Leal became city historian, replacing his mentor, Emilio Roig de Leushenring. He oversaw the reconstruction of the old municipal government building on the stately Plaza de Armas, then used a mix of charisma and diplomacy to get all of Old Havana designated as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1982. That distinction brought international funding to revitalize the area, but Leal was also granted unprecedented autonomy by government superiors, allowing him to levy taxes in the neighborhood and keep the profits his projects generated to reinvest in new rebuilding efforts. Leal was a member of Cuba’s parliament, but enjoyed more power serving on the Central Committee of the Communist Party. It was not uncommon for him to travel to the airport to greet arriving foreign heads of state, as well as oversee public political and cultural events. By February 2008, Leal’s name was mentioned as a candidate for major promotion when Raul Castro succeeded Fidel as Cuba’s president — especially given the city historian’s generally moderate political views. Instead, Leal stayed at the helm of Old Havana, the heart of a city founded in 1519 by the Spanish. Once ringed by a city wall, the historic district is a mix of Baroque and neoclassical monuments, crammed up against colonial-style homes and apartment buildings with balconies and courtyards — most of which was decaying since Castro’s government couldn’t afford the upkeep. Before Leal’s work, Old Havana had become a tangled collection of dark streets, winding past buildings in ruins, many propped up by poles to prevent their collapse. While pockets of open decay can still be found, they are now outnumbered by the regally restored plazas and colonial structures. Leal rebuilt tourist-friendly sites such as El Floridita, frequented by Ernest Hemingway, and another famous watering hole, El Bodeguita del Medio. He oversaw restoration of some of the faded facade of the Malecon, the city’s famous seawall, and El Morro, the Spanish fort that guards the entrance to Havana Harbor. Leal’s office also returned many restored buildings to their original functions, such as refurbished docks and tourist sites focused on specific themes — like the El Conde de Villanueva, a hotel that caters to cigar aficionados. Today, Old Havana’s cobblestone streets are jammed with art galleries and museums, churches, shady parks and alleyways reminiscent of Rome or Barcelona. Leal’s office refurbished more than 300 buildings, and maintenance crews ensure restored structures don’t lose their splendor despite unrelenting tropical sunlight, sea-air humidity and coastal flooding that punishes all Havana infrastructure. Leal won many international awards, including Spain’s International Queen Sofia Prize for restoration in 2007. One of his largest projects was the restoration of the domed Capitol building to become the seat of the Cuban parliament as it was before Cuba’s 1959 revolution. Part of the rebuilding effort also created nursing homes and dining rooms for government workers, as well as daycare centers, schools and drug rehabilitation clinics. Thousands of Cubans were forced from their tenament-like homes to make room for rehabilitation projects, but Leal said none were displaced without being offered comparable places to live. But the on-the-surface charm of Leal’s efforts belied the problems of Cubans who live in grinding poverty mere blocks from tourist areas. Indeed, islanders call Old Havana “the Vatican” since the streets are kept especially clean and free of petty thefts and small crime so as not to spook tourists. Even the power lines have been laid underground, meaning the neighborhood is spared many of the frequent power outages that plague the rest of the city. When the New York Times wrote a largely favorable 2007 article saying that Leal’s work had far more aesthetic benefits than real value for Old Havana residents, a visibly angry city historian organized a press conference to denounce the article, the reporter who wrote it and the newspaper. “The question is, ‘Isn’t culture a positive? Isn’t the state of (Cuban) culture a positive?’” Leal demanded to know.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2422661/eusebio-leal-who-oversaw-renewal-old-havana-dies-77
Moscow Demands that Belarus Free 33 Detained Russians
World
Asharq Al-Awsat
Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko. (Reuters)
The Kremlin demanded Friday that Belarus quickly release 33 Russian private security contractors it detained on terrorism charges, dismissing accusations of plots during the Belarus presidential campaign as bogus. The allegations represent an unprecedented escalation of tensions between Russia and neighboring Belarus, traditionally close allies, as Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko seeks a sixth term in the Aug. 9 election. Belarusian officials said the employees of private Russian military contractor Wagner, who were detained Wednesday, are facing a criminal probe on charges of plotting terror attacks in Belarus amid the country’s presidential election campaign. The Ukrainian authorities, meanwhile, said Friday they will ask Belarus to hand over 28 of the detainees on charges of fighting alongside Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. The Wagner company is linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman who was indicted in the United States for meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. The firm has allegedly deployed hundreds of military contractors to eastern Ukraine, Syria and Libya. Independent observers and opposition supporters in Belarus see the detention of the Russians as part of the authoritarian Lukashenko’s efforts to shore up sagging public support. The Kremlin, which first reacted cautiously to Belarus' move, toughened its stance Friday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia expects Belarus to quickly free the detainees. “The unwarranted detention of the 33 Russian citizens doesn't fit into the framework of the allied relations,” Peskov said during a conference call with reporters. “We expect our Belarusian allies to clear up this incident immediately and release our citizens.” Peskov said members of a Russian security firm were en route to an unspecified country and were detained after missing a connecting flight to Istanbul at the Belarusian capital of Minsk's airport. “They have done nothing wrong and carried no illegal items,” he added. The Russian Embassy in Minsk said Friday that Belarusian authorities met its demand for consular access to the detainees. Experts say Belarus long has provided a transit corridor for sensitive Russian operations abroad. Lukashenko now appears to be trying to use a routine Russian deployment for his own political gain. Throughout his 26 years as president, Lukashenko, a former collective farm director, has relied on Russian subsidies to keep the nation’s Soviet-style economy running but resisted Moscow’s push for closer integration of the neighboring nations. He frequently accused the Kremlin of harboring plans to incorporate Belarus with Russia and vowed to resist them. The 65-year-old Belarusian leader is campaigning to retain his post amid a wave of opposition protests driven by weariness and anger over his iron-fisted rule and the bruising economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic. Belarus election officials have blocked his two main challengers from being registered to run against him. One of them has been jailed on what supporters call fake charges. The other fled to Russia with his children after alleged reports from security officials that he would be arrested and his children would be taken away. The opposition has united behind another candidate, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the wife of a jailed opposition blogger. On Thursday, Belarus’ Investigative Committee linked the detained Russians to her husband as part of a criminal investigation into alleged preparations for staging “mass riots.” Speaking Thursday at a rally in Minsk that drew tens of thousands in the biggest demonstration since the start of the presidential campaign, Tikhanovskaya dismissed the charges against her husband as a crude fabrication.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2422656/moscow-demands-belarus-free-33-detained-russians
Stroll Quickest at 2nd British GP Practice; Vettel Struggles
Sports
Asharq Al-Awsat
Lance Stroll led the second practice for the British Grand Prix. (AP)
Lance Stroll led the second practice for the British Grand Prix on Friday while struggling Ferrari had another bad day, with Sebastian Vettel spending most of it stuck in the team garage. Stroll finished fourth at the Hungarian GP two weeks ago for Racing Point, which uses Mercedes engines and has been showing good pace this season. Red Bull driver Alexander Albon had the second-fastest time — .09 behind Stroll — but later crashed. Valtteri Bottas was third for Mercedes, ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton. “There's a lot of heat coming from the cockpit,” the championship leader Hamilton said right at the end of a session held amid hot and humid conditions. Stroll's unexpected teammate Nico Hulkenberg was seventh after filling in at the last minute for Sergio Perez, who tested positive for the coronavirus following a trip back home to Mexico. Vettel did finally get out on track but was a lowly 18th, about 1.6 seconds slower than Stroll. Vettel sat out the first session without setting a time because of a problem with the car's intercooling system. Ferrari mechanics stripped the car down to get it ready for the afternoon, but after 30 minutes the four-time F1 champion was back for repairs as the team changed his pedals. Vettel stood at the back of the garage with his helmet perched on top of his head and a forlorn look on his face. Ferrari is enduring a difficult season, with Vettel picking up only nine points from the first three races with a best finish of sixth in Hungary. The second session was interrupted half way through when Albon spun off the track and slammed backward into the crash barrier. He was unharmed and climbed out. The red flag came out while debris was cleared and the drivers were held up for about 10 minutes. Time was of the essence for Hulkenberg, who only got the call the day before and was confirmed as the replacement shortly before the session began. The veteran German driver had previously raced for the team when it was known as Force India and adapted quickly. “He did 45 minutes in the simulator this morning,” team principal Otmar Szafnauer said. “He knows the team really well, he knows the engineers.” Szafnauer is not sure if Perez can reclaim his seat for next weekend's race, which is also being held at Silverstone. “At this point we don’t know, we still don’t know if England will ask him to quarantine for seven days or 10 days,” Szafnauer said, referring to local health and safety protocols. Verstappen set the fastest time in the first practice and was nearly half a second quicker than Hamilton, although he was on quicker tires than Hamilton, with Stroll third. There is a third practice on Saturday ahead of qualifying in the afternoon, where Hamilton will aim for a record-extending 91st pole position. The six-time world champion has won the British GP a record six times and is only five wins away from matching Michael Schumacher's F1 record of 91 wins.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2422651/stroll-quickest-2nd-british-gp-practice-vettel-struggles
Alan Parker, Director of ‘Midnight Express,’ Dies at 76
Entertainment
Asharq Al-Awsat
British film director Alan Parker poses with his BAFTA fellowship award during the annual BAFTA British Academy Film Awards at the Royal Opera House in London, UK, on February 10, 2013. (AFP)
Filmmaker Alan Parker, one of Britain's most successful directors whose movies included “Bugsy Malone,” “Midnight Express” and “Evita,” has died at 76, his family said. Parker's diverse body of work includes “Fame,” Mississippi Burning, “The Commitments and “Angela’s Ashes.” Together his movies won 10 Academy Awards and 19 British Academy Film Awards. In a statement, the family said Parker died Friday in London after a long illness. Parker was born in London in in 1944 and, like many other aspiring British directors including Ridley Scott, began his career in advertising. He moved into television with critically acclaimed 1974 drama “The Evacuees,” which won an international Emmy Award. The next year he wrote and directed his first feature, “Bugsy Malone,” an unusual and exuberant musical pastiche of gangster films with a cast of children, including a young Jodie Foster. He followed that with “Midnight Express,” the story based on an American’s harrowing incarceration in a Turkish prison. It won two Oscars and gained Parker a best-director nomination. Parker ranged widely across subjects and genres. “Shoot the Moon” was a family drama, “Angel Heart” an occult thriller and “Mississippi Burning” a powerful civil rights drama that was nominated for seven Academy Awards. Parker was a notable director of musicals, a genre he both embraced and expanded. “Fame” was a gritty but celebratory story of life at a performing arts high school; “Pink Floyd — the Wall” was a surreal rock opera; “The Commitments” charted a ramshackle Dublin soul band; and “Evita” cast Madonna as Argentine first lady Eva Peron in a big-screen version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical. Parker also championed Britain’s film industry, serving as the chairman of the British Film Institute and the UK Film Council. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2002. Fellow director David Puttnam said Parker “was my oldest and closest friend – I was always in awe of his talent. My life, and those of many others who loved and respected him will never be the same again.” He is survived by his wife Lisa Moran-Parker, his children Lucy, Alexander, Jake, Nathan and Henry, and seven grandchildren.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2422646/alan-parker-director-%E2%80%98midnight-express%E2%80%99-dies-76
