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Year: 2023

Menendez blocks 2 Biden nominees over frustration with border negotiations

Menendez blocks 2 Biden nominees over frustration with border negotiations

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., blocked two President Biden nominees before the holiday recess over what his office claims is a “lack of responsiveness” from the administration on border security negotiations. Menendez, who is charged in connection to an alleged corruption scheme to benefit the Egyptian government, blocked the nominations of Basil Gooden for USDA undersecretary of rural development and Summer Mersinger, who was renominated for a commissioner role with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a spokesperson for the senator’s office reportedly confirmed to Politico.  According to the spokesperson, Menendez is unhappy with the dearth of details from the Biden administration to himself and other Congressional Hispanic Caucus members during the ongoing negotiations with Republicans to pass a supplemental spending bill for Ukraine aid in exchange for border security funding. Menendez wanted to demonstrate his “dissatisfaction” with the Biden administration’s current response on the border, the spokesperson added, describing how the senator indicated last week to Democratic leadership that he intended to block the nominations and proceeded to object again on Wednesday.  TOP POLITICAL COURTROOM MOMENTS OF 2023 The move derailed a plan to fast track confirming the two by voice vote in the Senate before lawmakers departed Washington, D.C., for the holiday recess.  “It is truly shameful that President Biden and his administration are considering selling out migrants and asylum-seekers in order to placate extreme Republicans who are jeopardizing our national security and that of our allies just to score a political point,” Menendez said last week.  Illegal border crossings have skyrocketed to record levels in recent weeks, during what is typically a slow migration month. Politico noted how some saw the objection as payback to Agriculture Chair and No. 3 Senate Democrat Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, who was the first member of the Senate Democratic leadership to demand Menendez’s resignation following his indictment in September on bribery and other offenses.  However, Menendez’s spokesperson told Politico that that suggestion was “simply not true.”  TOP DEM COMMITTEE ACCEPTED THOUSANDS FROM MENENDEZ THE SAME DAY FEDS UNSEALED HIS BRIBERY CHARGES Menendez, his wife Nadine and three New Jersey businessmen were charged in September in connection to a yearslong corruption scheme in which the high-ranking Democrat allegedly agreed to use his position to benefit the Egyptian government in exchange for hundreds of thousands of bribes, including gold bars, cash and a luxury convertible. He has pleaded not guilty to the initial indictment and additional charges of acting as a foreign agent brought in October. Though he stepped down from his position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the aftermath, the defiant Menendez has refused calls from his own party members – from Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy to local officials – to resign. Authorities who searched Menendez’s home last year found more than $100,000 worth of gold bars, as well as over $480,000 in cash — much of it hidden in closets, clothing and a safe, prosecutors say. Photos in the indictment show cash that was stuffed in envelopes in jackets bearing Menendez’s name. Investigators also say they discovered a Google search by Menendez for the value of a “kilo of gold,” and DNA of one man prosecutors say bribed him on an envelope filled with thousands of dollars. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

What’s the latest UN Gaza resolution that the US has agreed to?

What’s the latest UN Gaza resolution that the US has agreed to?

After a week of diplomatic back and forth, the United States has signalled that it is ready to support a United Nations Security Council resolution. Here is what we know about the draft resolution. Why did the US want the draft resolution watered down? The original draft was put forth by the United Arab Emirates mission to the UN on December 15 and it called for a cessation of hostilities and unhindered flow of aid into the Gaza Strip. It also said that the UN would exclusively monitor aid that enters Gaza through routes from outside states. Additionally, it called for an “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”. Initially, the US did not want the word “cessation” in the resolution. As a result, the language was substituted with “suspension of hostilities”. However, Washington was unconvinced despite the first round of revisions and voting was delayed. Now, the problem was with the UN monitoring of aid entering Gaza. PassBlue, an independent organisation that monitors the UN, posted on X that US diplomats were reportedly in agreement with the UN monitoring of aid until Israel saw the draft resolution. The USUN diplos were apparently OK with this para in the Gaza draft text, until #Israel saw it. Israel wants to keep full control of humanitarian aid getting into Gaza https://t.co/gzJpxQBq4G — PassBlue (@pass_blue) December 20, 2023 Before Thursday, Arab and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) members proposed new language to the US pertaining to the clause that talks about the UN monitoring aid entering Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Rami Ayari posted on X. It’s late and I’ll be going to sleep shortly but here’s the state of play on negotiations regarding the #UNSC draft reso on #Gaza aid scale-up. Following Blinken’s calls with his Egyptian and Emirati counterparts, ambassadors of the three countries have been trying to resolve the… https://t.co/kBGqf2Aex4 — Rami Ayari (@Raminho) December 21, 2023 By then, a vote on the draft resolution had already been postponed seven times in three days, Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo reported. However, the voting did not take place as scheduled for Thursday either – and was delayed to Friday. What changes did the US make to the resolution? With the help of Arab states, the US amended the draft. US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield said: “We’re ready to vote on it. And it’s a resolution that will bring humanitarian assistance to those in need.” The original draft, which mentioned a “cessation of hostilities”, was changed to call for an “urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access and for urgent steps towards a sustainable cessation of hostilities”. But the US-amended draft drops all references to a pause in fighting. Instead, it calls for “urgent steps to immediately allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and also for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities”. The original draft also said the UN will “exclusively monitor all humanitarian relief consignments to Gaza provided through land, sea and air routes” from countries not party to the war. Instead, the amended draft resolution asks UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to appoint a senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator to, in turn, establish a mechanism for accelerating aid to Gaza through states that are not party to the conflict. The coordinator would also have responsibility “for facilitating, coordinating, monitoring, and verifying in Gaza, as appropriate, the humanitarian nature” of all the aid. The initial draft resolution had demanded that Israel and Hamas allow and facilitate “the use of all land, sea and air routes to and throughout the entire Gaza” for aid deliveries. That was changed to “all available routes,” which some diplomats said allows Israel to retain control over access to all aid deliveries to all 2.3 million people in Gaza. Israel monitors the limited aid deliveries to Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt and the Israel-controlled Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing. Will the resolution pass? To pass, the resolution needs at least nine votes in favour out of the 15 member states, and no vetoes by the US, France, China, the United Kingdom or Russia — the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. While Thomas-Greenfield told reporters that the draft is now “a resolution we can support”, she declined to specify whether the US will vote in favour or abstain. The vote, however, was delayed until Friday after Russia – also a veto power – and some other council members complained during closed-door talks about the amendments made to appease Washington, diplomats said. Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzya declined to speak to reporters after the meeting. Now that the language that initially called for a “cessation of hostilities” has been diluted significantly, there is no guarantee that permanent members Russia and China will be on board. Russia and China previously vetoed a US-led resolution on October 25, which called for a “humanitarian pause” instead of a “ceasefire”. If it passes, will it make a difference? Gaza urgently needs food as its entire population is experiencing a hunger crisis, a UN-backed report says. A significantly large proportion of households is experiencing food insecurity and the threat of famine is rising. While the clause of unhindered aid access sounds promising in theory, the delivery of food and other assistance lagged Gaza’s needs even before the war. More than two months of fighting have created a further backlog of assistance requirements. Meanwhile, Israel has so far not lived up to the aid commitments it has made. Earlier, a humanitarian pause was brokered between Israel and Hamas to allow for a prisoner and captive exchange, alongside allowing for more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. But even during the pause, about 200 aid trucks entered Gaza every day, compared with the 500 trucks that would enter daily before the outbreak of violence on October 7. The UN said the flow of aid during the truce was no match to the needs of Gaza’s civilians. Hunger in the enclave has only worsened since,

Turkey carries out mass detention of ISIL suspects

Turkey carries out mass detention of ISIL suspects

Ankara has stepped up operations against armed groups since early October. Turkey has arrested hundreds of people suspected of having links to ISIS (ISIL). The roundup was carried out in operations across 32 provinces, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Friday. Ankara has ramped up operations against the armed group and Kurdish groups during the war in Gaza and after a bomb exploded near government buildings at the start of October. The majority of the suspects were arrested in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir, the country’s three biggest cities, Yerlikaya said on the social messaging platform X. The nationalities of the detainees have not been revealed. The operation was carried out simultaneously across the country, said the minister, who shared footage that showed police entering apartments and buildings and dragging suspects into vehicles. 32 İlde DEAŞ Terör Örgütüne yönelik eş zamanlı olarak düzenlenen “KAHRAMANLAR-34” Operasyonlarında 3⃣0⃣4⃣ şahıs yakalandı❗ Aziz Milletimizin huzuru, birlik ve beraberliği için teröristlerin hiçbirine göz açtırmayacağız. Güvenlik güçlerimizin üstün gayretleriyle mücadelemize… pic.twitter.com/WKlpZVGMeN — Ali Yerlikaya (@AliYerlikaya) December 22, 2023 ISIL originated in the aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. It was forged from an alliance between an al-Qaeda offshoot and elements of Iraq’s defeated Baath Party. At its peak in 2014, its fighters controlled one-third of Iraq and Syria. But the group lost its grip on the territory after campaigns by US-backed forces in Syria and Iraq as well as Syrian forces backed by Iran, Russia and various paramilitaries. Although beaten back, some ISIL fighters remain in hiding, mostly in remote areas of Syria and Iraq, from which they continue to carry out attacks. Turkey continues to be targeted and has been hit by a string of deadly bombings since 2015. One attack in Istanbul on January 1, 2017, killed 39 people in a nightclub. Ankara has ramped up its crackdown against people in the country with possible links to ISIL ever since. It is assumed that the latest detentions may have been made with one eye on the coming New Year’s celebrations. In May, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the country’s intelligence forces had killed the suspected leader of ISIL, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi. “This individual was neutralised as part of an operation by the Turkish national intelligence organisation in Syria,” Erdogan said. “We will continue our struggle with terrorist organisations without any discrimination.” In recent weeks, Turkish authorities have also carried out operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party, or PKK, which Ankara considers a terrorist organisation. The Kurdish fighters claimed responsibility for detonating a bomb near Turkish government buildings in Ankara on October 1. “For the peace and unity of our people, we will not allow any terrorists to open their eyes,” Yerlikaya said on Friday. “We will continue our battle with the intense efforts of our security forces.” Adblock test (Why?)

‘The Fat One’ sings: Spain’s Christmas lottery rolls out millions in prizes

‘The Fat One’ sings: Spain’s Christmas lottery rolls out millions in prizes

Known as ‘El Gordo’, the world’s richest lottery is set to pay out close to $3bn in prizes. People across Spain have been tuning in to watch the televised draw of the Christmas lottery known as “El Gordo” (‘The Fat One’), as pupils from Madrid’s San Ildefonso school began singing out the prize-winning numbers. A total of 2.6 billion euros ($2.86bn) in prizes will be distributed this year, most in small amounts, as Friday’s announcements were sung out, as is the tradition. Most people buy fractions of full tickets, with the most common purchase a 20-euro ($22) share, offering a top prize of 400,000 euros ($440,000). The two-centuries-old tradition kicks off the festive season and is televised from Madrid’s Teatro Real opera house, with tens of thousands of people tuning in to radio stations and watching online. Purchasing and sharing tickets in the run-up to Christmas is a much-loved tradition among families and friends, and is celebrated in bars, sports clubs and on the streets. Children at the school in the Spanish capital pick the numbers from among 100,000 small wooden balls drawn from two large golden rolling drums, showing the ticket numbers and their corresponding prizes. They sing out both figures, that cadence well-known across the country. The event lasts approximately three and half hours as ticket holders wait in anticipation for the jackpot known as “El Gordo” to be called out. People in costumes wait before the start of the draw of Spain’s traditional Christmas lottery ‘El Gordo’, at Teatro Real, Madrid, Spain, on December 22, 2023 [Susana Vera/ Reuters] While other lotteries may have bigger individual top prizes, El Gordo, held each year on December 22, is ranked as the world’s richest for the total prize money involved. Spain established its national lottery as a charity in 1763 during the reign of King Carlos III. Its objective later became to shore up state coffers. The December 22 lottery began in 1812 and children have been singing the prizes since the beginning. Adblock test (Why?)

Delhi excise scam case: Court rejects AAP MP Sanjay Singh’s bail plea

Delhi excise scam case: Court rejects AAP MP Sanjay Singh’s bail plea

The anti-money laundering agency had arrested Singh on October 4. The ED has alleged that Singh played a key role in formulating and implementing the now-scrapped 2021-2022 excise policy, which benefited certain liquor manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, for monetary considerations.