In a first, casino hub Macau elects chief executive born in mainland China
Former judge Sam Hou Fai receives 394 out of 398 votes cast in an election where he was the sole candidate. Former judge Sam Hou Fai has been elected chief executive-designate of Macau, China’s special administrative region, setting him up to be the leader of the casino-dominated area next to Hong Kong. Sam received 394 votes out of 398 ballots cast in an election that lasted about one hour and 35 minutes on Sunday, according to a statement on the government’s website. He is the territory’s first leader born in mainland China. Critics fear the move will see Beijing’s agenda take priority over business interests. After being announced as the chief executive-elect, Sam walked onto the stage to applause from the committee members. “It is the highest honour of my life,” the 62-year-old said. He pledged to uphold national sovereignty, accelerate the city’s economic diversification, and better integrate it into the national development plans. Sam celebrates after being declared the winner of Macau’s chief executive election [Bertha Wang/AP Photo] The appointment of Sam to a five-year term as chief executive must be approved by China’s central government. “This was an election with one candidate. Ordinary residents here can’t vote here,” Al Jazeera’s Laura Westbrook reported from Macau. “Some people that I have been speaking to, they weren’t even aware there was an election happening today.” Sam was born in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong in 1962. He graduated from the prestigious law school of Peking University in Beijing. He also studied the Portuguese language, culture and law at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, and once practised law in mainland China. Macau is the only place in China where casino gambling is legal. Beijing has called for the city to diversify its gambling-reliant economy. “He [Sam] is the first leader of Macau that doesn’t come from a business background, and he has had some pretty strong comments about the gambling industry here – where he says that he wants to diversify it away from gambling,” Al Jazeera’s Westbrook said. Sam has promised to accelerate the current government’s plan to boost tourism and other sectors such as traditional Chinese medicine, finance, exhibitions and commerce. However, the city will still need to rely on the gambling industry for government revenues to support the city’s welfare and accomplish other goals laid out by Beijing, analysts say. China wants Macau to develop into a world-class tourism and leisure centre and play a bigger role as a bridge for trade between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. Adblock test (Why?)
Why has Israel attacked UN peacekeepers in Lebanon?
Several soldiers wounded after Israel twice attacked UNIFIL’s headquarters in southern Lebanon. Condemnation has come in from across the world after Israel twice attacked United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon. The multi-nation UNIFIL force has been in southern Lebanon since 1978. So why is Israel targeting the mission? And can it remain in place? Presenter: Folly Bah Thibault Guests: Ali Riza – Political and security affairs analyst Rami Khouri – Distinguished public policy fellow at the American University of Beirut Raymond Murphy – Professor with the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the University of Galway and a former UN peacekeeper with UNIFIL in Lebanon Adblock test (Why?)
Will escalating violence in the Middle East affect the US elections?
With the United States presidential election less than four weeks away, analysts caution that Israel’s expanding military campaigns across the Middle East could bruise the chances of the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris. Foreign policy is rarely a top priority for US voters. But Israel’s yearlong war in Gaza, as well as its intense bombing campaign in Lebanon, have spurred questions about the US’s role in the conflict. The administration of President Joe Biden has been unwavering in its support of Israel, splintering the Democratic base, with some voters — particularly Arab Americans — turning against the party. With Harris in a tight race against former Republican President Donald Trump, anger towards the Biden administration could mean that Arab voters in key states like Michigan stay home in November. “This is a constituency that, by the second term of the Obama administration, identified as Democrat by a two-to-one margin,” Jim Zogby, the co-founder of the Arab American Institute, told Al Jazeera. “Now party identification is virtually tied at 38 percent each.” Much of that decrease, he said, has to do with the Biden administration’s support for the war in Gaza, which has erased entire neighbourhoods and killed more than 42,000 people, many of them women and children. That campaign has been enabled by about $20bn in US weapons assistance. “It’s less that this group of voters is getting more conservative, and more that they want to punish this administration for what they’ve allowed to happen,” said Zogby. “There’s a sense that Palestinian and Lebanese lives don’t matter.” Eroding support A September poll by the Arab American Institute found that Harris and Trump were virtually tied among Arab voters, receiving 41 percent and 42 percent support, respectively. That figure is actually a marked improvement for the Democrats. When Biden was running for re-election, his support among Arab voters cratered after the beginning of the war in Gaza, dropping to just 17 percent in October 2023. Biden previously won 59 percent of the Arab vote in the 2020 presidential race. When Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, following a debate performance that underscored concerns about the 81-year-old’s age, some voters hoped his replacement, Harris, would bring a fresh approach. But Harris has thus far refused to break with Biden or call for an end to weapons transfers, even as a series of escalatory strikes by Israel have brought the Middle East to the brink of a wider regional war. In a TV interview this week, when asked whether she would have diverged from Biden on any issues, Harris replied: “There is not a thing that comes to mind.” The Harris campaign also fielded criticism during August’s Democratic National Convention, after party officials refused to allow a Palestinian American speaker on stage to give voice to the suffering in Gaza. “People are looking for the slightest gesture of humanity, and the campaign just won’t give it to them,” said Zogby. “They’re making a mistake that will cost them votes.” Swing states While US policy towards Gaza may not be a top priority for most voters, more than 80 percent of Arab Americans say that it will play an important role in determining their vote. Many of those voters are concentrated in a small number of swing states that play an outsized role in deciding the country’s presidential elections. The Midwestern battleground state of Michigan, for instance, has the second-largest Arab population in the country. It also has the largest percentage of Arab Americans of any state: Nearly 392,733 people identify as Arab in a state of 10 million. Polling averages show Harris with a lead of only around 1.8 percent there, well within the margin of error. And her razor-thin lead in the state could be eroded by third-party candidates like Jill Stein, who has actively courted the Arab and Muslim American vote in the area. “The situation in Gaza has complicated Democratic chances in Michigan,” said Michael Traugott, a research professor at the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan. “Since we expect things to be close, it will hurt Harris if a large portion of the state’s Arab community stays home on election day,” he added. But Michigan’s Arab American population is no monolith, and there have been bitter divisions within the community over how best to use its electoral leverage. Some believe that a Harris loss in Michigan would send a warning to future candidates about underestimating the influence of Arab voters. Others view a second term for Trump, a pro-Israel hawk, as an unacceptable risk: the Republican has previously said that Israel should “finish the job” in Gaza and vowed to deport foreign nationals involved in pro-Palestine student protests. One group attempting to walk a tightrope between those perspectives is the Uncommitted National Movement, an organisation born of a protest movement against Biden. During primaries, the movement called on Democrats to vote “uncommitted”, rather than throwing their support behind the Democratic president. Now, as the general election approaches on November 5, the movement says it cannot support Harris — but it also opposes a second Trump presidency. “As a Palestinian American, the current administration’s handling of this genocide has been beyond enraging and demoralising,” a spokesperson said in a video released this week. “But the reality is that it can get worse. Nobody wants a Trump presidency more than [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, because that is his ticket to wiping Palestine off the map.” Expanding fighting The final weeks of the presidential race have coincided with the looming threat of further escalation in the Middle East, adding an element of uncertainty to the final weeks of the US race. In early October, for instance, Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Israel, in response to the assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, among others. On that same day, Israel launched a ground operation in southern Lebanon, in addition to its deadly aerial bombing campaign in the
At least 11 killed in fighting between tribes in northwest Pakistan
A shooting incident between rival tribes appear to have led to clashes, with woman and children among the casualties. At least 11 people have been killed and eight injured, including women and children, in tribal clashes in northwestern Pakistan, according to a local official. Tensions rose in Kurram district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on Saturday after two people were critically injured in a shooting incident between rival tribes. It was not immediately clear what caused the shooting. Vehicles were targeted in different areas of the district, leading to more casualties, said senior official Javedullah Khan. Khan said efforts were being made to secure travel routes and restore normalcy. The injured were taken to a hospital. Pir Haider Ali Shah, a former parliamentarian and member of a tribal council, said elders had arrived in Kurram to mediate a peace agreement between the tribes. “The recent firing incidents are regrettable and have hampered efforts for lasting peace,” he said. Last month, at least 25 people were killed in days of clashes between armed Shia and Sunni Muslims over a land dispute. Although both live together largely peacefully in the country, tensions have existed for decades between them in some areas, especially in Kurram, where Shia Muslims dominate in parts of the district. Balochistan Liberation Army Meanwhile, on Saturday a separatist group in the southwest of Pakistan claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 21 people. The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) said its fighters attacked a coal mine in Dukki district with heavy weapons, rocket launchers and grenades late Thursday night. It gave higher casualty figures of 30 dead and 18 injured. It also said that Pakistani security personnel were disguised as workers, without giving evidence. It threatened more assaults unless the military withdrew from the province. Balochistan is a hotbed of armed movements, with the BLA most prominent among them. They accuse the central government in Islamabad of exploiting the province’s rich oil and mineral resources to the detriment of the local population in the country’s largest and least-populated province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan. On Monday, the BLA – designated a “terrorist group” by Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States – claimed responsibility for an attack targeting Chinese nationals near Pakistan’s largest airport. The Chinese embassy in Pakistan said at least two of its citizens were killed and a third injured after their convoy was targeted with an improvised explosive device believed to have been detonated by a suicide bomber. Local media reports suggest at least 10 people were injured in total, with four cars destroyed in the explosion and 10 more vehicles damaged in the resulting fire. Adblock test (Why?)
Trump calls for death penalty for migrants who kill US citizens, police
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has called for the death penalty for migrants who kill United States citizens or members of law enforcement, as part of an incendiary rally in Aurora, Colorado. In his Friday night speech, Trump, a former president, repeated false and misleading claims about immigrants in the US, leaning into nativist sentiment as he campaigns for a second term. “Now America is known all throughout the world as occupied America,” he told the rally, citing a supposed “invasion” of migrants. Trump also laid out a stark vision for his first days in office, if re-elected, with policy proposals hinged on mass deportation. “To everyone here in Colorado and all across our nation, I make this pledge and vow to you: November 5, 2024, will be liberation day in America,” he said, with a reference to election day. Trump has repeatedly sought to demonise migrants in the run-up to the vote, pointing to an increase in southern border crossings under the administration of President Joe Biden, a Democrat. But critics have drawn parallels between Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric and the language used historically by white supremacist movements. A town in the national spotlight Trump’s campaign stop in Aurora was poised to drum up fears of immigration: He has long used the city as an example of the alleged lawlessness of migrants. The city has been besieged by misinformation in recent months, as rumours swirled that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua had wrested control over parts of the city. Those claims were false. Media reports indicated they arose after a property management company — faced with accusations of decrepit conditions in its apartment buildings — blamed a gang presence for the lack of repairs. But Trump and his allies have nevertheless continued to repeat the false rumours, despite pushback from local officials. Ahead of Friday’s rally, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman, a Republican, said in a statement on Facebook, “Concerns about Venezuelan gang activity have been grossly exaggerated.” Only a handful of incidents related to the Tren de Aragua gang have been reported in the city of 400,000, he added. “Former President Trump’s visit to Aurora is an opportunity to show him and the nation that Aurora is a considerably safe city — not a city overrun by Venezuelan gangs,” Coffman said. Furthermore, several studies have shown that undocumented migrants are far less likely to be arrested for felony and violent crimes than US-born citizens. Aurora Police Department statistics have also shown that major crimes in the city have dropped since last year. Preview of a second term Regardless, Trump repeated his false accusations on Friday, promising to “rescue” Aurora and other cities from an “invasion” of migrants. “We will begin the largest deportation operation in the history of the United States,” Trump said. “We will close the border. We will stop the invasion of illegals into our country. We will defend our territory. We will not be conquered.” The Republican candidate also invoked racist and xenophobic stereotypes, including that migrants were likely to carry illness. “They’re very sick, very sick. They’re coming into our country. They’re very, very sick with highly contagious disease, and they’re let into our country to infect our country,” Trump said. His speech included references to what he would do in his first days back in the White House if he wins November’s election. “I’m announcing today that, upon taking office, we will have an Operation Aurora at the federal level to expedite the removals of these savage gangs,” Trump said. Part of the plan, he explained, was to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, an antiquated law that allows the federal government to round up and deport foreigners belonging to a country with which America is at war. Trump then added he would seek harsh penalties for migrants involved in crimes. “I’m hereby calling for the death penalty for any migrant that kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer,” he said, to cheers from the crowd. Race enters final phase The Aurora rally comes as Trump and his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, enter the final stretch of the election season, with just 23 days until the vote. Trump has long promoted anti-immigrant sentiment, even before his first successful run for office in 2016. In the early and mid-2010s, he spread conspiracy theories about former President Barack Obama’s citizenship and whether the Democratic leader was secretly Muslim. When he announced his bid for the presidency in 2016, Trump campaigned in part on depictions of Mexican immigrants as “rapists”. That rhetoric continued throughout his term in office, which ended in 2021. Experts have warned that dehumanising language about migrants and foreigners can increase the likelihood of violence. But polls consistently show immigration as one of the top election issues in the US, making it fertile ground for politicians. Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance, have focused intensely on the issue as the November election approaches. They have sought to paint Harris as a “border czar” — a false designation — who left the US with “open borders” vulnerable to mass immigration. While southern border crossings did spike under Biden — reaching 250,000 crossings in the month of December 2023 — they have since returned to numbers similar to those seen during Trump’s term. Speaking to Latino voters during a Univision town hall on Thursday, Harris defended the Biden administration’s policy on immigration. She pointed to a recent bipartisan bill that would have toughened restrictions on the border. The bill was reportedly scuttled by Republicans loyal to Trump, reportedly at the former president’s behest. Still, critics say Harris has lurched further to the right on immigration issues. During a visit to Arizona last month, she promised to impose tougher restrictions on asylum than Biden, who has already taken action to limit asylum claims. Trump and Vance, meanwhile, have zeroed in on communities in cities like Aurora and Springfield, Ohio, to advance apocalyptic claims about immigration. Last month, for instance, the
Caught in India-China clashes, Ladakh’s nomadic herders fear for future
Chushul, Ladakh, India – The bubbling sound of water boiling on the stove and the aroma of spinach dal fill the air in Tashi Angmo’s kitchen as she rolls dough to make a type of Tibetan bread. “This is a dish which we call timok in Ladakh and tingmo across the border in Tibet,” she says as she prepares the apparatus to steam the dough she has rolled into balls resembling dumplings. “It’s a delicious meal after a hard day’s work.” Angmo, 51, lives in Chushul, a village which sits at an altitude of 4,350 metres (14,270 feet) in India’s Ladakh, one of the highest regions in the world, known for its pristine rivers and lakes, high valleys and mountains and clear skies. Chushul also lies about 8 kilometres (5 miles) from India’s Line of Actual Control with China, the disputed, de facto border between the two countries. A type of Tibetan bread called timok in Ladakh and tingmo across the border in Tibet [Priyanka Shankar/Al Jazeera] “I was around 11 years old when I realised that my family and I lived very close to the Chinese border. Back then, we used to be a family of shepherds, and I often went near the border with my father, to take our sheep herding,” Angmo says. She now works as a labourer doing a variety of tasks from cleaning roads to helping with construction and cooking meals for other workers, for the Border Roads Organisation – the Indian Defence Ministry’s initiative to maintain roads in the subcontinent’s border areas. Tashi Angomo lives in Chushul, a village which borders China in India’s Ladakh [Priyanka Shankar/Al Jazeera] “We even used to trade apricots and barley which grew in our village with the Chinese shepherds. In return, we brought back chicken, some Chinese cookies and also teapots!” she exclaims and points to the teapots which she still keeps in her kitchen cabinet. Even the Sino-India war in 1962 over border and territorial disputes between the neighbours, after New Delhi had given shelter to the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan refugees, did not undo that delicate balance. What did was a deadly clash in the summer of 2020. As the world was absorbed in its battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, Indian and Chinese soldiers fought with sticks, stones and their bare hands along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh’s Galwan valley. Each side claimed that the other’s troops had crossed into their territory. The close combat fighting led to the death of 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese soldiers. These were the first deaths along the border in decades. The Indo-China border seen from Chushul, which lies about 8 kilometres (5 miles) from India’s Line of Actual Control with China [Priyanka Shankar/Al Jazeera] Since then, both sides have stepped up border patrols and moved troops to the region, and their troops have occasionally engaged in standoffs. In many Ladakhi villages bordering China, grazing and farming close to the frontier has now been restricted by the Indian military. Boating in the pristine Pangong Tso lake, parts of which are claimed by both New Delhi and Beijing, has also been restricted to only military boats. “We can’t go near the border any more or trade with Chinese people. Shepherds – most of whom are nomads – have also lost land close to the border since the Indian military oversees the area,” she says. The land has largely been swallowed by military buffer zones on both sides of the border, with rich pasture land for 2km in either direction now a no-go zone for the herders. Young nomads and farmers moving away Donning a pink scarf and a grey sweater, Kunjan Dolma, who is in her late 30s, belongs to the Changpa community – seminomadic Tibetan people who live in the Changtang plateau in eastern Ladakh. She lives in Chushul during the winter months and is nomadic throughout the rest of the year. Dolma tells Al Jazeera that the land near the Chinese border is an important winter pasture for their animals. “But if we take our sheep and goats near the Chinese border, the military stops us and advises us to find grazing lands elsewhere. We have lost important pastures in recent years, but we have begun adjusting to the restrictions,” she says as she milks her sheep in an open-air shed built with stones and surrounded by the low-lying mountains. “In a way, the military restrictions also make sense. They protect us from the Chinese soldiers who I fear might take away our sheep in case we go very close to the border.” Dolma lives with her husband and teenage daughter and the family has about 200 sheep whose wool they sell to make pashmina shawls. It is an important source of income, she explains. She spends days in the mountains to ensure their yaks and sheep have access to the best grazing lands during the warmer months of the year. The Changpa community retreats to the villages in the lower-lying hills of Ladakh during winter. She earns her living selling pashmina wool, and yak meat and milk. Kunjan Dolma, who belongs to the Changpa community – seminomadic Tibetan people who live in the Changthang valley in eastern Ladakh – tends to her sheep with her family [Priyanka Shankar/Al Jazeera] But Dolma’s daughter, like many young people from the nomadic families of the Changtang plateau, has begun turning to other professions to earn a living. Dolma added that military restrictions on grazing land have also increased the momentum of young nomads turning away from this traditional way of life. Sipping on a cup of warm water before she heads to the mountains to make her cattle graze, Dolma reminisces about her younger days when border tensions did not exist in their lands. “I’ve spent many joyful days in these mountains with my sheep and when there were no border restrictions, it was very easy for us to take our cattle across pastures.
US Justice Department sues Virginia for purging voters before election
The move comes as Republicans increasingly emphasise the chance of noncitizen voting, despite little evidence of any significant risk posed. The United States Justice Department has sued Virginia for removing voters from registration rolls too close to the presidential election on November 5. The lawsuit, filed on Friday, comes in response to an executive order issued in August by Virginia’s Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin. It initiated the removal of individuals from voter registration rolls if officials are “unable to verify that they are citizens” through the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles. But the Justice Department says the executive order was issued with too little time before election day, violating a 90-day “quiet period” outlined in The National Voter Registration Act. That period requires official systematic removals at least three months ahead of a federal vote. “Congress adopted the National Voter Registration Act’s quiet period restriction to prevent error-prone, eleventh-hour efforts that all too often disenfranchise qualified voters,” Assistant US Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement. “The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy and the Justice Department will continue to ensure that the rights of qualified voters are protected.” Youngkin had issued his order on August 7, which marked 90 days until the election. In a statement on Friday, the governor argued the executive order fell within the law. “Virginians – and Americans – will see this for exactly what it is: a desperate attempt to attack the legitimacy of the elections in the Commonwealth, the very crucible of American Democracy,” Youngkin said. He pledged state authorities “will defend these common-sense steps, that we are legally required to take, with every resource available to us”. “Virginia’s election will be secure and fair, and I will not stand idly by as this politically motivated action tries to interfere in our elections, period,” Youngkin said. Republicans and allies of former President Donald Trump – the current Republican candidate for the presidency – have increasingly pushed unfounded claims of possible election malfeasance ahead of this year’s vote. Those claims echo falsehoods spread about the 2020 election, which Trump has continued to falsely say was “stolen” through fraud. Some Republican officials have also advanced baseless claims that noncitizens are voting in large enough numbers to affect the outcome. In the US, only citizens can vote. Most voter administration is determined by state officials and legislatures, with only broad parameters from the federal government. Nearly all US states require some form of voter registration to cast a ballot, although many allow the registration to be done on election day. Ahead of the 2024 elections, several states – including Texas, Tennessee, Ohio and Alabama – have passed measures requiring higher burdens of proof to show a voter’s citizenship. Democracy monitors said those efforts may disenfranchise US citizens who are otherwise eligible to vote. The Brennan Center for Justice – a non-partisan policy organisation – found that noncitizen voting in the US is exceedingly rare. There is no evidence it had any bearing on recent elections. In 2017, the centre released a study looking at 23.5 million votes cast in the 2016 general election. Only 30 votes were flagged for suspected noncitizen voting. Data was not available on how many of those votes proved to have been cast by noncitizens. Adblock test (Why?)
Donald Trump, Kamala Harris locked in close election race: WSJ poll
Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and her Republican rival Donald Trump are locked in a dead heat race for the presidency in the United States less than a month before the vote, a new Wall Street Journal poll suggests. According to the data, published on Friday, the vice president and former president are within two percentage points of one another in six of the seven battleground states that will ultimately decide the next president. In the poll, while Harris led in the states of Arizona, Georgia and Michigan, Trump was ahead in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Nevada. All the results are within the margin of error with the exception of Nevada, where Trump is led by 5 percent in the WSJ poll. The newspaper said it surveyed 600 registered voters per state between September 28 and October 8. US elections are not won by popular vote nationwide. Rather, candidates compete in individual states to win electoral college votes. It’s akin to a point system, where each state is worth a number of points proportionate to the size of its population. In all but two states – Maine and Nebraska – the winner takes all the electoral college votes. Most states are almost certain to go to one party. For example, a Democratic win in California and Vermont is often projected as soon as the polls close, while states like Oklahoma and Alabama are Republican strongholds. The battleground states That leaves a handful of states where there are close, competitive elections. These are known as swing states. In this round, all eyes are on the seven states polled by WSJ. In 2016, Trump won the presidency despite losing the popular vote because he defeated the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in most battleground states. According to a Pew Research Center survey released on Friday, Harris is leading the race nationally by one point – 48 percent to Trump’s 47 percent. US election poll results have fluctuated in recent months. While Trump enjoyed a solid lead over Joe Biden earlier this year in almost all polls, the Democrats received a boost after the US president stepped aside and was replaced by Harris as the party’s nominee. A Morning Consult poll in September had Harris beating Trump 51 percent to 46 percent. But the former president appeared to claw back some support amid concerns about the economy and the turmoil in the Middle East. US election polls have also been wide off the mark in the past. For example, many surveys had indicated that Clinton was set for a comfortable win when she lost to Trump in 2016. Still, this year various polls appear to agree that the US is heading to a close presidential election next month. Senate race Control of the Senate and House of Representatives will also be up for grabs on November 5. A New York Times poll on Friday predicted bad news for Democrats’ hopes of protecting their narrow majority in the Senate. The Democrats currently control the 100-member chamber with 51 seats, including four independents who caucus with the party. But the Times survey found that Democrats are likely to lose a potentially decisive seat in a Republican-leaning state. Republicans were already expected to flip a Senate seat in West Virginia – where conservative Democratic incumbent Joe Manchin is not running for re-election. But the Times poll indicated Democratic Senator Jon Tester is trailing his Republican opponent by eight percentage points in rural Montana, where Trump won with ease in 2016 and 2020. Democrats will also have a fight on their hands to keep Senate seats in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Arizona and Nevada, but they will be hoping to challenge Republican incumbents in Texas and Florida. A Republican-controlled Senate can prove to be a major hurdle for Harris should she win in November. Beyond its legislative powers, the Senate is tasked with confirming judicial appointments and cabinet members, which would allow Republicans to pressure Harris, should she be elected, on who she chooses for her governing team. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia’s Putin meets Iran’s Pezeshkian amid spiralling Middle East violence
Presidents’ meeting comes before expected signing of strategic partnership agreement by the two countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin has met Iran’s new president as concerns grow over escalating attacks between Israel and Iran along with its network of aligned armed groups. Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian discussed the situation in the Middle East on the sidelines of a regional meeting in Turkmenistan on Friday, Russian state media reported. They met before their two countries are expected to sign a strategic partnership agreement. Pezeshkian said on Friday that he hoped the agreement could be finalised at the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit, which Putin invited him to, in Russia on October 22-24. During their meeting, Putin told Pezeshkian that Moscow’s and Tehran’s positions on international affairs were often “very close”, Russian state news agency TASS reported. “Relations with Iran are a priority for us. They are developing very successfully,” Putin said. Iranian news agency IRNA also quoted Pezeshkian as sharing a similar sentiment: “Economically and culturally, our communications are being strengthened day by day and becoming more robust.” Pezeshkian also spoke about Israel’s “savage attacks” in Lebanon, adding that Israel should “stop killing innocent people” in the region and accused the United States and Europe of backing its actions. The Israeli military has sent ground troops into southern Lebanon and continues to bombard the country as it battles the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which is aligned with Tehran. Russia has also previously condemned Israel for targeting civilian areas during its wars in Lebanon and Gaza. Putin said at the forum on October 11, 2024, that he wants a ‘new world order’ to counter the West as he and Pezeshkian extolled Russia and Iran’s strengthening relationship [Alexander Shcherbak/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo via AP] Relations between Russia and Iran have strengthened significantly since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022. The US has accused Iran of supplying Russia with weapons to be used in Ukraine. Tehran has denied that claim. As the conference opened on Friday, Putin said he wanted to create a “new world order” for Moscow’s allies to counter the West. He said Moscow supported “the broadest possible international discussion” on the emerging multipolar world and was open to discussing it in various forums, including the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and BRICS. Other regional leaders, including Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and the heads of Central Asian nations – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – attended Friday’s conference. Adblock test (Why?)
Democrats attack third-party candidate Jill Stein in razor-thin race
Democrats issue their first ad slamming Green Party candidate, even as she polls at about 1 percent. With less than a month to go to election day in the United States, Democrats are locked in a tight battle for every available vote in the presidential campaign and have taken on the third-party candidates they see as potential “spoilers”. The Democratic National Committee (DNC), the party’s executive branch, issued a television advertisement on Friday attacking Jill Stein, the longtime Green Party candidate to whom some progressives disillusioned with the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, have flocked. The advertisement, which is running in the swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, blames Stein for Republican challenger Donald Trump’s 2016 win and warns that “a vote for Stein is really a vote for Trump” – a refrain Democrats have regularly levelled against her in tight races between their candidates and Trump. The video also includes a comment by former President Trump, saying, “Jill Stein? I like her very much.” The advertisement, the first against the third-party candidate, signals Democrats’ growing worry that every lost vote may cost them such a razor-thin election. Stein has been polling at about 1 percent, similar to progressive academic and independent candidate Cornel West and Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver. In some battleground states, those votes may make all the difference. Third-party history Third-party candidates have long been blamed for their impact on tight election outcomes — most notably in 2000 when Green Party nominee Ralph Nader earned 97,421 votes in Florida, a state that eventually went to George W Bush, along with the presidency, by only 537 votes. But third-party candidates and supporters have rejected the blame, arguing that they are working to challenge a fundamentally broken two-party system and giving voters a greater choice. “You don’t have a democracy unless it’s a competitive democracy at election time,” Nader recently told Al Jazeera. “Historically, the function of third parties in an Electoral College system has never really been to win elections but to have new agendas,” he said. With only two choices, Democrat or Republican, Nader added, “on major issues, they are very similar.” A Gallup poll this month found 58 percent of US voters agree that a third major party is needed because the Republican and Democratic parties “do such a poor job” of representing the American people. Stein on Israel While she has virtually no chance of winning the presidency, Stein’s message has been particularly resonant for some voters during Israel’s war in Gaza and Democrats’ and Republicans’ unwavering support for it. She has been a consistent critic of US support for Israel – a position that has won her new supporters this election cycle. “The Kamala Harris campaign is looking for a scapegoat,” she told The Washington Post this week, referring to the Harris campaign’s concern about her candidacy. “They could change their policy right now. The problem is they would rather lose the election than end the genocide”. This week, the Abandon Harris campaign, a Michigan-based Muslim group that says it aims to hold Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration “accountable for the Gaza genocide”, endorsed Stein for president. “Our movement remains dedicated to ensuring that the American people, especially the Muslim-American community, recognize the responsibility we share in standing up against oppression and using all our power to stop genocide — wherever it may arise,” the group said in a statement. “On the precipice of the election, we endorse Jill Stein.” Adblock test (Why?)