Carmaking to pick up after Iran nuclear deal
TEHRAN, Iran – The nuclear deal struck by Iran and six world powers will put more rubber on the road in the Islamic Republic.
The country’s major carmakers stand ready to start receiving parts again from French firms PSA Peugeot Citroen and Renault when the sanctions ease. That could see Iran’s stalled car production again take off, proving a boon to local automakers and potentially draw in more foreign investment from other manufacturers hoping to break into the market.
The nuclear deal struck in Geneva puts the brakes on the most sensitive parts of Iran’s uranium enrichment program in return for relief from economic sanctions. The sanctions expected to lift include those affecting Iran’s auto industry, its petrochemical exports, the sale of gold and other precious metals anad the supply of spare parts for Iranian airplanes.
Iran’s auto industry has been particularly hard hit by the sanctions. Car production in Iran this year fell by 72 percent compared to 2011, when it produced about 1.6 million cars.
Thai protesters clash in country’s capital
BANGKOK – Aggressive political protests in the Thai capital turned violent late Saturday with at least one man killed and five wounded by gunshots in street fighting between supporters and opponents of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
It was not immediately known who fired the shots or what side the victims were on. National Police Deputy Spokesman Anucha Romyanan said the dead man was a 21-year-old male with two bullet wounds.
The violence in the short run may stir fears of further instability like what plagued the country during related political conflicts in 2006, 2008 and 2010. Any escalation of violence is likely to scare away tourists who come to Thailand by the millions and contribute a huge chunk to the economy.
But it may help the government by undermining the claims of its opponents to be carrying out a nonviolent campaign of civil disobedience. The violence is likely to scare away some supporters who would otherwise attend the opposition’s rallies.
Airplane crashes in Africa, 33 dead
JOHANNESBURG – A Mozambique Airlines plane carrying 33 people crashed in a remote border area in Namibia, killing all on board, officials said Saturday.
The plane crashed in a Namibian national park near the border with Angola and there were no survivors, Namibian police and Mozambican authorities said. An investigation of the cause was underway, and teams of experts headed to the scene.
The Brazilian-made Embraer 190 aircraft was carrying 27 passengers, including 10 Mozambicans, nine Angolans, five Portuguese, and one citizen each from France, Brazil and China, said the airline. Six crew members, including two pilots, three flight attendants and a maintenance technician, were on board.
Mozambique’s transport minister, Gabriel Muthisse, confirmed the deaths of the 33 people on the plane.
Flight TM470 from Maputo, the Mozambican capital, did not land as scheduled in Luanda, the Angolan capital, on Friday afternoon, and the airline initially said the plane might have landed in Rundu, in northern Namibia. It said it coordinated with aviation authorities in Namibia, Botswana and Angola to locate the missing plane, and that it was setting up support centers for families of the victims at the airports in Maputo and Luanda.
Egypt begins voting on draft constitution
CAIRO – The panel amending Egypt’s suspended constitution began voting Saturday on some 250 changes, the first step toward democratic rule after the July military coup that ousted the country’s president.
The constitution before the 50-member committee makes drastic changes in ensuring civil liberties, fighting discrimination, criminalizing torture, protecting religious freedoms and giving lawmakers power to remove the president. Yet the draft also allows Egypt’s powerful military to choose its own chief and try civilians in military tribunals.
The constitutional changes come amid a heavy-handed crackdown on dissent that’s left the country largely divided between supporters and opponents of the military that toppled Mohammed Morsi, the country’s first freely elected president.
The military suspended the Islamist-drafted, voter-approved 2012 constitution in the July 3 coup that ousted Morsi. The constitutional panel, dominated by secularists, has been working on changes as part of a military-backed timeline that calls for voters to approve it. It plans for parliamentary and presidential elections to be held early next year.
On Saturday, 48 panel members began voting on the changes in a session aired live on state television. Most articles passed unanimously. One issue the panel faced was how the principles of Islamic or Shariah law, already called the main source of law in Egypt, should be defined. Some feared a definition would allow for a heavier implementation of Shariah and the creation of a religious state.
Associated Press
