Good Morning, Australia! – Now that Iran and the world have agreed on a nuclear deal, the drive to win the negotiations at home begins – Strange.. Greece’s PM doesn’t believe in the EU Bailout deal, but is trying to sell it anyway? – And a leaked report suggests Greece’s European creditors already know the bailout is anywhere near enough to save Greece – And much, much more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:
The six major world powers and Iran announced a deal to significantly limit Tehran’s nuclear ability for more than a decade in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions. US President Barack Obama whose country led the drive to a deal said the agreement is “not built on trust – it is built on verification.” His Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, said a new phase had begun in Iran’s relations with the rest of the world.
In a twist of the facts that would make Orwell blush, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the deal to cut off all of Tehran’s pathways to a nuclear weapon, and claimed it would create a new Middle Eastern nuclear superpower. Calling it a “historic mistake”, Netanyahu warned that Israel would not be bound by the deal, and claimed that lifting sanctions would “reward Iran, the terrorist regime in Tehran, with hundreds of billions of dollars” to fund future terrorism.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has endorsed his negotiating team, although he’s playing his cards close to the chest on the overall deal. The Iranian street likes it, but the approval of the Ayatollah, his allied hardliners, and the powerful Revolutionary Guard will be needed. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he believes the deal begins a new era for Iran’s relations with the rest of the world.
Things could get hairier in the US Congress. Republican leaders have already condemned the deal without actually having read it first. Politically, this may be their last chance to deal a major blow to President Obama, after his Supreme Court victories on Gay Marriage and Obamacare. Some pro-Israel members of Mr. Obama’s Democratic party are also suspicious of Iran. But Congress will have 60 days to review the deal. After that, it could pass a measure of disapproval, which the President has already promised to veto. After that, it’s doubtful the Senate could muster enough votes to override Obama’s veto, and the treaty passes.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says he will not resign, despite opposition within his own Syriza party to the horrible, terrible, awful EU bailout. He has until Wednesday to get parliament to approve it, and here’s how he’s selling it: “I assume responsibility for all mistakes I may have made, I assume responsibility for a text I do not believe in, but which I signed to avoid disaster for the country, the collapse of the banks.” He.. doesn’t.. believe.. in.. the.. deal. The one he negotiated. But, Tsipras says a captain doesn’t abandon ship in mid-storm, and EU-mandated austerity is the only way to stay in the Euro.
You know who else doesn’t believe in the deal? The IMF. A secret International Monetary Fund report seen by Reuters news agency says Greece needs way more debt relief above the bailout than Europe has been willing to contemplate. It says European countries would have to give Greece a 30-year grace period on servicing all its European debt – including new loans. Or, Europe could make annual transfers to the Greek budget or accept “deep upfront haircuts” on existing loans. Economists like Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz have been warning this all along.
A Thai junta court sentenced ten people to prison terms for insulting the monarchy with social media post. Police claimed the network was a serious threat to the monarchy and the nation’s stability, saying it incited “chaos and hatred in society”. Most were associated with the Red Shirt movement of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra; eight got five years terms, the other two were sentenced to three years.
At least 27 people died in a stampede in Andra Pradesh in southern India. Hindu pilgrims had gathered at the Godavari River for the Maha Pushkaralu festival, in which believers say their sins would be cleansed by a ritual dip. Instead, people trod over one another for 20 minutes while police desperately tried to get it under control.
While most eyes were focused on Pamplona, three people were gored to death by bulls at Spain’s lesser-known summer festivals. Officials in Pedreguer say the latest was a 44-year old French tourist who was gored while he stood talking to friends at the town’s bull run. Pamplona’s famed San Fermin Festival ended on Tuesday with a total of ten people gored in a week, including one Aussie and four Americans.
Sub-Saharan Africa is getting its first Starbucks, next year in Johannesburg. Whoop de doo.
Kenya’s Westgate Mall will reopen this weekend, after almost two years of repairing the damage caused by the Islamist terrorist group al Shabaab’s siege in September 2013. Gunmen killed 67 people. Major Western brands including Subway, KFC and Converse are returning to the mall, as well as the Kenyan upscale supermarket Nakumatt, where where so many children at a cooking class were killed. Security will be provided by more than 75 agents with an Israeli company.