Trump sues Des Moines Register newspaper, claiming ‘election interference’
US president-elect’s lawsuit comes days after reaching defamation settlement with ABC News. United States President-elect Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit accusing a newspaper and a polling firm of engaging in “brazen election interference” by publishing a pre-election survey that underestimated his popularity. The lawsuit filed late on Monday accuses The Des Moines Register newspaper, its parent company Gannett and pollster Ann Selzer of intentionally downplaying Trump’s support in a poll that showed him trailing Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. The November 2 poll, which showed Harris ahead by three percentage points in Iowa, generated widespread attention as Trump easily carried the midwestern state in the 2016 and 2020 elections. Trump won Iowa in last month’s presidential election by more than 13 percentage points. “Selzer’s polling ‘miss’ was not an astonishing coincidence – it was intentional,” the lawsuit filed in Iowa’s Polk County said. “As President Trump observed: ‘She knew exactly what she was doing.’” The lawsuit, which bases its claims on alleged breaches of Iowa consumer fraud law, seeks triple the damages incurred as determined by a jury. Advertisement Lark-Marie Anton, a spokeswoman for The Des Moines Register, said the newspaper stood behind its reporting and viewed the lawsuit as without merit. “We have acknowledged that the Selzer/Des Moines Register pre-election poll did not reflect the ultimate margin of President Trump’s Election Day victory in Iowa by releasing the poll’s full demographics, cross-tabs, weighted and unweighted data, as well as a technical explanation from pollster Ann Selzer,” Anton said. Selzer did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but said in an interview with PBS last week that she was mystified why anyone would think she had designed the poll to generate a particular result. Trump’s lawsuit comes just days after ABC News agreed to settle a defamation case he brought over anchor George Stephanopoulos’s inaccurate assertion that he had been found civilly liable for rape. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a civil liberties organisation, condemned the lawsuit as a “direct assault” on the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees the right to freedom of speech. “If newspapers and polling firms are sued for ‘deceptive practices’ because they publish stories and poll results politicians don’t like, every media outlet’s First Amendment rights are threatened. Getting a poll wrong is not election interference or fraud,” the group said. Trump, who is also suing CBS News over an interview with Harris that he claims was deceptively edited, faces steep legal hurdles to victory in his lawsuits due to the US’s speech protections, which rank among the strongest in the world. Advertisement Still, the suits could create difficulties for news organisations by exposing potentially embarrassing internal communications and subjecting journalists and executives to depositions. Adblock test (Why?)
Mary Jane Veloso, Filipina nearly executed in Indonesia, arrives home
A Filipina who spent nearly 15 years on death row in Indonesia and was almost executed by firing squad has returned home, where she now awaits a potential pardon in a women’s prison. Mary Jane Veloso, 39, landed at Manila airport early on Wednesday following a repatriation deal between the two countries that eliminated the threat of her execution, as the Philippines has long abolished the death penalty. The mother of two was arrested and sentenced to death in 2010 after a suitcase she was carrying was found to be lined with 2.6 kilogrammes (5.7 pounds) of heroin. She flew home without handcuffs alongside Filipino correctional officials on an overnight commercial flight after a Jakarta ceremony marking “the end of a harrowing chapter in Veloso’s life”, the corrections bureau said in a statement. Veloso was flanked by heavy security upon her arrival at the airport and was transported straight to a prison facility for women. Her family and dozens of supporters chanting slogans such as “Clemency for Mary Jane” and “Free, free Mary Jane” who were waiting outside the terminal failed to greet Veloso on her arrival. Advertisement Prison guards later allowed Veloso’s family to spend time with her. Veloso’s two sons ran towards her and hugged her tightly as they met inside the prison compound. “I hope our president [Ferdinand Marcos] will give me clemency so I can go back to my family. I had been in jail in Indonesia for 15 years over something I did not commit,” an emotional Veloso, who is technically still serving a life sentence, told reporters after undergoing a medical examination at the Manila prison. Trafficking victim The conviction and death sentence for the single mother of two sons caused an outcry in the Philippines. She had travelled to Indonesia where a recruiter, Maria Kristina Sergio, reportedly told her a job as a domestic worker awaited her. Sergio also allegedly provided the suitcase where the drugs were found. In 2015, Indonesia moved Veloso to an island prison where she and eight other drug convicts were scheduled to be executed despite objections from their home countries Australia, Brazil, France, Ghana and Nigeria. Indonesia executed the others but Veloso was granted a stay of execution because Sergio had been arrested in the Philippines two days earlier. She faces human trafficking charges, and Veloso was named as a prosecution witness in the case. Veloso became a poster child for her country’s 10 million-strong economic diaspora, many of whom take jobs as domestic workers abroad to escape poverty at home. Marcos said last month that Veloso’s story resonated in the Philippines as “a mother trapped by the grip of poverty, who made one desperate choice that altered the course of her life”. Advertisement In a statement on Wednesday, Marcos thanked Indonesia for turning over custody of Veloso, but made no mention of a pardon or clemency. Under the agreement, Veloso’s life sentence now falls under the Philippines’ purview, “including the authority to grant clemency, remission, amnesty and similar measures”. “Definitely, that’s on the table,” Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez told reporters on Wednesday, adding Veloso’s clemency bid would be “seriously studied”. She will serve out her life sentence if not pardoned, Vasquez added. Indonesia’s government has said it will respect any decision made by Manila. The Veloso deal includes a “reciprocity” provision. “If Indonesia requests similar assistance in the future, the Philippines shall fulfil such a request,” the agreement states. There has been intense press speculation that Indonesia would seek custody of Gregor Johann Haas, an Australian detained on drug charges in the Philippines earlier this year. He is also being sought by Jakarta over drug smuggling, which could land him the death penalty. About 530 people are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, including 96 foreigners, Ministry of Immigration and Corrections data showed last month. Indonesia’s last executions, of a citizen and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016. Five Australians who spent almost 20 years in Indonesian prisons for heroin trafficking returned to Australia on Sunday under a deal struck between the governments. Adblock test (Why?)
India’s Ashwin retires from international cricket after Brisbane Test draw
Veteran spinner calls time on 106-Test career after rain forces an early end to the third Test, with the five-match series tied 1-1. India’s spin spearhead Ravichandran Ashwin has announced his retirement from international cricket in all formats after his team’s third Test against Australia ended in a draw in Brisbane. “This will be my last day as an Indian cricketer in all formats in the international level,” the 38-year-old told reporters at the Gabba ground on Wednesday. “I do feel there’s a bit of punch left in me as a cricketer, but I would like to showcase that in club-level cricket.” Ashwin played only one of the three matches of the five-Test series as he took one wicket in the Adelaide Test. The 38-year-old took 537 wickets in his 106 Tests at an average of 24.00, leaving him seventh on the all-time list and second only to Anil Kumble (619) for his country. He also played 116 one-day and 65 Twenty20 internationals. Ashwin made his Test debut in 2011 against the West Indies and was also handy with the bat, scoring 3,503 runs with six centuries and 14 fifties. The third match ended in a draw after rain cut short Australia’s push for victory on the final day, raising the stakes for Melbourne where the series shifts for the traditional Boxing Day clash. Advertisement India were eight for no loss when tea was called early due to failing light, with the tourists needing 267 runs for victory. With a heavy downpour preventing the resumption of play after the break, the match was abandoned and the series remains locked at 1-1. Rain and bad light led to an early end to the third Test between Australia and India at the Gabba in Brisbane [David Gray/AFP] “We’ll take that, obviously,” India’s captain Rohit Sharma said at the post-match presentation. “We head to Melbourne with the confidence that we can try to pull things toward us.” Pat Cummins had declared Australia’s second innings closed at 89 for seven to give India an improbable 275-run victory target as dark clouds gathered near the ground. Cummins and fellow pacer Mitchell Starc bowled only 2.1 overs at the Indian openers before play was halted. Yashasvi Jaiswal was four not out, with KL Rahul also on four. “Unfortunately a lot of rain, which you can’t do anything about … I’m really proud of how the guys played,” said Cummins. “We were right ahead of the game … We just about ticked off every box we could.” Australia bowled out India for 260 after scoring a first innings 445, with rain blighting the match throughout. After capturing India’s final wicket in the first hour on day five, Australia led by 185 runs, but rain denied them the chance to bat until after lunch. In search of quick runs, Australia crashed to 33 for five as Akash Deep and Jasprit Bumrah removed the top four for single-digit scores, a day after the pacemen combined in a brave 10th-wicket partnership to ensure India would avoid the follow-on. Advertisement Travis Head and Alex Carey (19 not out) briefly stemmed the bleeding with a 27-run partnership before Head top-edged Mohammed Siraj to be out for 17. Cummins slogged 22 off 10 balls before becoming Bumrah’s third wicket and declared five balls later. Australia’s hopes of forcing a result were always hostage to the weather but their chances of victory were already wafer-thin given their attack was a man down. Pace stalwart Josh Hazlewood was out of action after succumbing to a calf injury, while there were also concerns about all-rounder Mitchell Marsh’s fitness after he bowled only two overs in the match. Head was named player of the match after scoring 152 in Australia’s first innings, having also scored a big hundred in the hosts’ second Test win in Adelaide. Adblock test (Why?)
Conor McGregor announces boxing bout against Logan Paul in India
Ireland’s Conor McGregor confirms preliminary talks to fight American social media influencer-turned boxer, Logan Paul. Mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor has reached a preliminary agreement to fight American social media influencer-turned-fighter Logan Paul in an exhibition boxing match, the former UFC champion said on social media. The Irish fighter added in his revelation on X that he is in talks with the family of billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani for the bout. “I am in preliminary agreements with the Ambani family to face Logan Paul in India. I have agreed,” McGregor wrote on Tuesday. McGregor also said that rumours of a potential bout with Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight champion Ilia Topuria were false. McGregor said he would “seek his return to the Octagon” after his boxing exhibition with Paul. Topuria also denied any speculation he would fight McGregor. “The rumors of bout with mchicken are false,” Topuria said on social media. “I don’t fight nor am I interested in fighting with a rapist.” Logan Paul has previously fought Floyd Mayweather in an exhibition [Miguel Rodriguez/Reuters] McGregor’s announcement comes less than a month after a civil court jury in Ireland ruled he must pay nearly $257,000 to a woman who said he “brutally raped and battered” her at a Dublin hotel penthouse in December 2018. Advertisement Nikita Hand said the assault left her heavily bruised and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. McGregor testified that he never forced the woman to do anything against her will and said she fabricated the allegations after the two had consensual sex. The Associated Press generally does not name alleged victims of sexual violence unless they come forward publicly, as Hand has done. The 36-year-old McGregor was once the biggest UFC star, but he has not fought injuring his leg since during a bout with Dustin Poirier in July 2021. He pulled out of a scheduled UFC 303 match with Michael Chandler last June and said later that it was due to a broken toe. Paul is a YouTuber-turned-boxer. He previously survived eight rounds against retired five-division champion Floyd Mayweather, who is 18 years his senior, in a fight three years ago. His brother Jake Paul won a unanimous decision over 58-year-old former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson last month in Arlington, Texas. The Jake Paul-Tyson fight was the first live sports event on Netflix, which announced that the bout was viewed in 60 million households. Adblock test (Why?)
UN envoy warns Israeli attacks in Syria are destabilising
NewsFeed UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen has warned that Israeli attacks inside Syria are undermining the country as its tries to rebuild after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. Published On 17 Dec 202417 Dec 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
UN envoy warns Syria’s war ‘has not ended yet’ as US says truce extended
The United Nations special envoy for Syria has warned that the war “has not ended yet” despite the removal of President Bashar al-Assad by opposition fighters, highlighting clashes between Turkish-backed armed groups and Kurdish fighters in the north of the country. “There have been significant hostilities in the last two weeks, before a ceasefire was brokered,” Geir Pedersen told the UN Security Council in New York on Tuesday, warning that a military escalation could be “catastrophic”. The remarks come after the Syrian National Army (SNA), a group of fighters backed by Turkiye, has battled with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the wake of al-Assad’s removal. The SDF is the main ally in a United States-led coalition against ISIS (ISIL). It is spearheaded by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara sees as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) armed group that it outlaws and that has fought the Turkish state for 40 years. Last week, SNA fighters seized the northern city of Manbij from the SDF, which then headed east of the Euphrates River as a US-mediated ceasefire came into effect. Advertisement Shortly after Pederson addressed the UN Security Council, a US State Department spokesman said the ceasefire in northern Syria had been extended until the end of this week. “We continue to engage with the SDF, with Turkey about a path forward,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, adding it was not in the interest of any party to see increased conflict in Syria. “We don’t want to see any party take advantage of the current unstable situation to advance their own narrow interests at the expense of the broader Syrian national interest.” Netanyahu visits Golan Pedersen also called on the UN’s Security Council to ensure that Israel “cease all settlement activity in the occupied Syrian Golan”. Pedersen noted Israel has conducted more than 350 strikes on Syria following the departure of the former regime, including a major strike on Tartous. “Such attacks place a battered civilian population at further risk and undermine the prospects of an orderly political transition,” he said. The UN envoy warned against plans announced by Israel’s cabinet to expand settlements inside the Golan, occupied by Israel since 1967 and annexed in 1981. On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a security briefing inside the UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights that Israel seized earlier this month. “Israel must cease all settlement activities in the occupied Syrian Golan, which are illegal. Attacks on Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must stop,” said Pedersen. Advertisement Rob Geist Pinfold, a professor of peace and security at Durham University, told Al Jazeera that “Israel is looking to launch as many strikes [as possible] while it still has the freedom to do so.” He suggested that “Israel is adding to the instability [due to their] fear power vacuums and ungoverned spaces on their borders.” Geist Pinfold also said that the “international community’s response has certainly been lacklustre so far.” Sanctions Pederson also called for “broad support” to end the Western-backed sanctions imposed on Syria in order to allow for reconstruction in the war-ravaged country. “Concrete movement on an inclusive political transition will be key in ensuring Syria receives the economic support it needs,” Pedersen said. “The needs are immense and could only be addressed with broad support, including a smooth end to sanctions, appropriate action on designations, too, and full reconstruction.” Western countries are wrestling with their approach to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which spearheaded the takeover of Damascus, and is a former al-Qaeda affiliate. Despite moderating its rhetoric in recent months, HTS has been designated as a “terrorist” group by many Western governments. Adblock test (Why?)
“Euphoria” in Syria could quickly turn to “frustration”
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Mohamad Elmasry talks about the challenges Syrians face that could easily disrupt the current mood.
“Wheels of justice now turning” for Syrian torture victims
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Roger Lu Phillips talks about what the new Syrian government will have to do to bring justice to Assad regime’s victims.
Chief of Russian nuclear protection forces killed in Moscow bomb blast
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY, Chief of Russia’s Troops of Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence killed outside an apartment building. A bomb hidden in an electric scooter has killed a senior general in charge of nuclear protection forces in Moscow, Russia’s investigative committee said. Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who was chief of the Troops of Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence, was killed on Tuesday outside an apartment building on Ryazansky Prospekt. “Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection forces of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, and his assistant were killed,” the investigative committee said. According to a law enforcement official, the explosive device “had a capacity of some 300 grams in TNT equivalent”, Russian outlet Tass news agency reported. Photographs posted on Russian Telegram channels showed a shattered entrance to a building littered with rubble and two bodies lying in the blood-stained snow. Reuters news agency footage from the scene showed a police cordon. A criminal case has been opened. Rubble and litter can be seen outside the building where the explosion took place [Maxim Shemetov/Reuters] Russia’s radioactive, chemical and biological defence troops are special forces who operate under conditions of radioactive, chemical and biological contamination. Advertisement On Monday, Ukrainian prosecutors charged Kirillov in absentia with the alleged use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine said, according to the Kyiv Independent. Russia denies those accusations. In October, the United Kingdom sanctioned Kirillov and the nuclear protection forces for using riot control agents and multiple reports of the use of the toxic choking agent chloropicrin on the battlefield. Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU, said that they had recorded more than 4,800 uses of chemical weapons on the battlefield since February 2022, particularly K-1 combat grenades. During the almost 3-year operation, Russia has made small but steady territorial gains to the nearly one-fifth of Ukraine it already controls. Adblock test (Why?)
Cyclone Chido: What to know about storm that devastated France’s Mayotte
Cyclone Chido has become the worst storm to impact the French overseas territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean in 90 years. Here is more about the destruction caused by Chido and what may come next: What is Cyclone Chido? Chido developed from a tropical depression in the southeastern Indian Ocean basin from December 7 to 8. A tropical depression is an area of low pressure over an ocean accompanied by circular wind flow produced by thunderstorms. Tropical depressions have maximum sustained wind speeds of 61km/h (38mph) or less. A tropical depression can intensify and become a tropical storm if wind speeds are from 62km/h (39mph) to 119km/h (74mph). Anything above that is considered a tropical cyclone. The terminology can be slightly confusing. Tropical cyclones are called hurricanes when they occur in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and northeastern Pacific Ocean and are called typhoons when they occur in the western Pacific Ocean. And when they occur in the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean, they are referred to as cyclones. Advertisement Chido intensified into a cyclone and hit Mayotte, an archipelago home to 320,000 people off the east coast of Africa. While Mayotte lies in the Indian Ocean, it is an overseas department of France and is directly ruled from Paris. However, it is France’s poorest region, and an estimated third of the population live in shanty towns. The cyclone has also impacted surrounding nations in southeastern Africa, bringing heavy rainfall and damaging houses in Madagascar, Mozambique and the Comoros Islands before weakening. According to an early estimate, at least three people have died in Mozambique, local officials told the AFP news agency. When and where did Chido make landfall? Chido hit Mayotte on Saturday morning with wind speeds exceeding 220km/h (137mph). It made landfall as a tropical storm in Mozambique on Sunday morning. Chido was incredibly powerful. It was equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane at the time of landfall in Mayotte, making it the second strongest type of storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale. According to the National Hurricane Center in the United States, Category 4 storms, which have wind speeds ranging from 209km/h to 251km/h (130mph to 156mph) cause “catastrophic damage”. They can destroy well-built homes, uproot trees and down power poles, leading to power outages. (Al Jazeera) How many people have been killed by Chido in Mayotte? According to France’s Interministerial Crisis Management Operational Centre (COGIC), the official death toll in Mayotte as a result of Chido is 19 people. Advertisement However, it is feared that Chido has actually killed hundreds of people. The French Ministry of Interior has said “it will be difficult to account for all victims” and a conclusive number of those affected by Chido has not been determined yet. Determining the death toll could take “days and days”, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told French media. Retailleau arrived in Mayotte’s capital, Mamoudzou, on Monday. France has sent medical and military personnel to Mayotte on ships and military aircraft. Rescue workers, including reinforcements from France, are digging through debris to try to find survivors of the cyclone. “I think there will certainly be several hundreds. Maybe we will reach a thousand, even several thousands,” senior local French official Francois-Xavier Bieuville told the local media channel Mayotte la 1ere on Sunday. The uncertainty is partly due to the large number of undocumented migrants in Mayotte – more than 100,000, according to French authorities. Additionally, a French Interior Ministry official said determining the death toll would be complicated because “Mayotte is a Muslim land where the dead are buried within 24 hours.” Many of Mayotte’s migrants come from the neighbouring Comoros Islands and East African countries such as Somalia. They are attracted by better economic opportunities that come with Mayotte’s status as a department of France. How badly damaged is Mayotte’s infrastructure? According to COGIC, 830 people have been injured, including 24 with severe injuries. Additionally, 100,000 people have been moved to 70 emergency shelters. Critical infrastructure in Mayotte has been damaged, including roads, water treatment plants and electrical transmission lines. “The health system is seriously affected, and access to care has been seriously degraded,” outgoing French Health Minister Genevieve Darrieussecq said on Sunday. Advertisement The control tower of Mayotte’s main airport, Dzaoudzi–Pamandzi, also sustained damage. This has made rescue operations difficult because only military aircraft can now fly into Mayotte. According to the internet monitoring group NetBlocks on Monday, Mayotte has been offline almost entirely for more than 36 hours. COGIC reported 15,000 people have experienced power outages. Impoverished communities have been hit hardest by the cyclone. Mayotte’s shanty towns, where most homes are built with sheet metal, were not constructed to withstand the power of a cyclone, and many of the dead are believed to have been living in these areas. Damage to infrastructure has left some communities in Mayotte without food and water since Saturday, said Salama Ramia, a senator representing Mayotte in the French Senate. Mayotte is the poorest French overseas territory and is also believed to be the poorest European Union territory. Three out of four people in the island nation live below the poverty line. For years, Mayotte has struggled with water shortages, drought and underinvestment. Where is Chido now? As of 09:00 GMT on Monday, Chido had weakened to a remnant low, or a post-tropical cyclone, slightly south of the Balaka township in Malawi. It had a speed of 45km/h (28mph). What’s next? According to ReliefWeb, Chido is expected to dissipate near Zimbabwe on Tuesday. Cyclones typically form in the southwestern Indian Ocean from November to April. An average of 12 cyclones form per year. In 2019, Cyclone Idai killed more than 1,300 people in countries including Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. In 2023, Cyclone Freddy caused storms for a month, killing more than 1,000 people in East Africa. Freddy remained a tropical cyclone for 36 days, and the World Meteorological Organization declared it the longest lasting tropical cyclone on record. Advertisement Scientists warn that cyclones are