Claudia Sheinbaum sworn in as Mexico’s first female president
Sheinbaum begins six year term, taking over from Morena party ally Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Claudia Sheinbaum has been sworn in as Mexico’s first female president. Sheinbaum took over from outgoing president – and close Morena party ally – Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at an inauguration ceremony in the country’s Congress on Tuesday. The 62-year-old climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City is set to serve a six-year term, ending in 2030. Sheinbaum took the oath of office in front of parliamentarians, as her supporters chanted “President! President!” and “Long live Mexico!” “Now is the time of transformation, now is the time of women,” Sheinbaum said. She enters office with her party holding supermajority control in the legislature’s lower house, and nearly the same in the Senate, and immediately sought to reassure investors, saying that investments will be safe in Mexico. Sheinbaum will need to contend with some last-minute moves by Lopez Obrador, namely a controversial judicial overhaul that will see federal judges – including those on the Supreme Court – elected by popular vote. The constitutional change has roiled both advocates of judicial independence and investors. The incoming president will also be navigating a US election on November 5 that could shift relations with Mexico’s top trading partner. Later in November, she will deliver her government’s first budget, which will likely give clues as to whether Sheinbaum can make good on commitments to reduce the country’s widening fiscal deficit while maintaining popular welfare spending and costly crime-fighting initiatives. That task comes at a time when Mexico’s economy, the second-largest in Latin America, is forecasted to have only modest growth. Former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and President Claudia Sheinbaum embrace on the day of her swearing-in ceremony at the Congress, in Mexico City, Mexico, October 1, 2024 [Raquel Cunha/Reuters] Historic presidency Sheinbaum’s inauguration is the culmination of a four-decade rise in Mexican politics, punctuated by her history-making election as the first woman to lead Mexico City. Sheinbaum, the daughter of academic activists, has also leaned into the history-making nature of her presidency. In a social media post on Monday, she unveiled a logo showing a young woman in profile hoisting a Mexican flag, her hair pulled back into a ponytail. The hairstyle has become a sort of signature for Sheinbaum. “A young Mexican woman will be the emblem of Mexico’s government,” Sheinbaum wrote. Mexico remains one of the most conservative countries in Latin America, with its 65 presidents since independence from Spain all men. As Mexico City mayor, Sheinbaum built a reputation for a data-driven approach to leadership, winning praise for reducing the city’s murder rate by half. Her policies sought to boost security spending on an expanded police force with higher salaries. She has pledged to replicate the approach across Mexico, which continues to be plagued by high rates of crime and the outsized influence of powerful drug cartels. Critics have questioned how realistic those pledges will prove to be. At the same time, Sheinbaum has promised to continue policies of generous social spending pensions and youth scholarships championed by her populist predecessor Lopez Obrador. Having studied energy engineering, and later being tapped for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Sheinbaum has sought to strike a more careful balance on environmental initiatives. She has said she will protect the industrial dominance of Mexico’s state-owned oil and power companies, while expressing interest in shifting towards renewable energy projects. Sheinbaum shared a Nobel Peace Prize with former US Vice President Al Gore in 2007 for her climate work. Prior to that, she had been Lopez Obrador’s environmental chief when he served as the mayor of Mexico City. She had previously served as the chief spokesperson for Lopez Orador’s failed 2006 campaign. Adblock test (Why?)
US says helped Israel thwart Iranian attack, reasserts ‘ironclad’ support
The United States has said it helped Israel thwart an Iranian ballistic missile attack, with a senior White House official telling reporters that the US military “coordinated closely” with its Israeli counterparts to shoot down the projectiles. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday that “US naval destroyers joined Israeli air defence units in firing interceptors to shoot down in-bound missiles”. “In short, based on what we know at this point, this attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective,” Sullivan said during a news briefing at the White House. “This was first and foremost the result of the professionalism of the [Israeli military]. But in no small part because of the skilled work of the US military and meticulous joint planning in anticipation of the attack.” Asked what Washington’s view was on possible Israeli retaliation, Sullivan said discussions were continuing between top US and Israeli military and political leaders. “We want to have some deep consultations with the Israelis,” he said. Sullivan added later: “We are proud of the actions that we’ve taken alongside Israel to protect and defend Israel. We have made clear that there will be consequences — severe consequences — for this attack, and we will work with Israel to make that the case.” Analysts have been warning for months that the failure of US President Joe Biden’s administration to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to agree to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip would push the Middle East into a regional war. “A regional war becomes inevitable when the United States continues to fund and aid Netanyahu and all of his war crimes, his genocide, his attacks on all of his neighbours,” said Raed Jarrar, advocacy director at DAWN, a think tank in Washington, DC. “This will not stop without the United States putting its foot down and saying, ‘We will not send more weapons to Israel. We will not fund and aid Israeli crimes,’” Jarrar told Al Jazeera. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it fired missiles at Israel on Tuesday evening in retaliation for the killings of people in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as the recent assassinations of Hamas, Hezbollah and IRGC leaders. The firings came just hours after the Israeli army said it had launched “limited” ground incursions into southern Lebanon. Hezbollah denied that Israeli forces had entered Lebanese territory. The Israeli military, which has been trading fire with Hezbollah across the Israel-Lebanon border for months, recently escalated its assault on the country. Israeli strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut and other areas have killed and injured thousands of people over the past weeks. Amid the surge in attacks and regional tensions, the Biden administration has repeatedly said it favours diplomacy and wants to see a de-escalation. But critics have noted that the US government continues to offer Israel unwavering military and diplomatic support. Washington provides Israel with at least $3.8bn in military aid annually, and Biden has greenlit $14bn in additional assistance to the US ally since the Gaza war began in October of last year. Earlier on Tuesday, the White House said that Biden had “directed the US military to aid Israel’s defense against Iranian attacks and shoot down missiles that are targeting Israel”. The Pentagon also said in a statement that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant had discussed “the severe consequences for Iran in the event Iran chooses to launch a direct military attack against Israel”. The statement did not elaborate on what those consequences would be. This morning, @VP and I convened our national security team to discuss Iranian plans to launch an imminent missile attack against Israel. We discussed how the United States is prepared to help Israel defend against these attacks, and protect American personnel in the region. — President Biden (@POTUS) October 1, 2024 A spokesman for the US State Department said on Tuesday afternoon that the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s security remains “ironclad”. “We will continue to stand with the people of Israel at this critical moment,” Matthew Miller told reporters. But according to Jarrar, the analyst at DAWN, the Biden administration’s “blank cheque” policy to Israel is what led to the current escalation. “The Biden administration is dysfunctional and there is no one behind the wheel. There is no leadership whatsoever,” he said. “This administration is completely absent. They give Israel 100 percent of what they want, from weapons and money, and they can exercise 0 percent pressure on Israel. Netanyahu gets all that he wants, but he doesn’t have to pay a price for anything. “What we’ve seen today is a result of this failed US leadership in the Middle East and North Africa. The region has officially entered a full-scale regional war.” Adblock test (Why?)
India’s batting blitz yields stunning win over Bangladesh in rain-hit Test
India bowled out Bangladesh for 146 and then raced to 98-3 in 17.2 overs in a match that lost more than two days to rain. India won a race against time to pull off a remarkable seven-wicket win over Bangladesh in the rain-hit second Test match. Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed 51 as India, needing 95 for victory, reached 98-3 in just 104 balls in the second session on the final day at Kanpur. A draw loomed large over the match after two and a half days were lost to bad weather with only 35 overs played in the first three days at the Green Park Stadium. Jaiswal reached his second fifty of the match in 43 balls including eight fours and one six before falling to Taijul Islam, ending a 58-run stand with Virat Kohli. Former captain Kohli hit 29 and was there at the end as Rishabh Pant hit the winning boundary. Bangladesh spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz had earlier removed Rohit Sharma, for eight, and Shubman Gill, for six. India rode on Jaiswal’s 72-run blitz in the first innings to force a result in a match which saw no play on Saturday and Sunday because of rain and a wet outfield. India’s captain Rohit said his team wanted to force a result despite the loss of time. “We had to think a lot to keep the game moving forward,” Rohit said after the match. Bangladesh resumed their second innings on 26-2 but the batting fell apart during the first session, with opener Shadman Islam top-scoring on 50. The hosts bundled out Bangladesh for 146 before lunch on the final day. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin broke through in the third over of the day when he had first-innings centurion Mominul Haque caught at leg slip by KL Rahul for two. Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, who had taken his 300th Test wicket on Monday, struck in his first over of the day when he bowled Najmul, who had made 19. Shadman reached his fifty off 97 balls but fell almost immediately after to fast bowler Akash Deep. Jadeja also picked up the wicket of veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, caught and bowled without scoring, in what could be the former captain’s last Test for Bangladesh. India’s bowlers, especially Jasprit Bumrah and spin duo Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, cleaned up the Bangladesh batting for 146 on the final day [Money Sharma/AFP] “We didn’t bat well,” admitted Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto. “If you look at all our batters, they played 30 to 40 balls and then got out. It’s important for one batsman to get big runs.” Even after India bowled out Bangladesh for 233 on day four, few expected a result until India came out to bat for the first time. Opener Rohit himself led from the front, whacking the first two balls he faced for sixes and India went on to eclipse Bangladesh’s total in 28 overs scoring at a rate unprecedented in test cricket. By the end of day four, India declared their innings on 285-9 and even removed both the Bangladesh openers. “When we came on day four, we wanted to get them out as early as possible and see what we can do with the bat,” Rohit told reporters. “It was a risk that we were willing to take … when you are trying to bat like that, it’s very easy to get bundled out for a low score as well. Even if we got all out for 150, we wanted to give ourselves a chance to get a result.” Earlier on Monday, it was breathtaking batting as India reached 50 in three overs, 100 in 10.1 overs, and 200 in 24.2 overs – the fastest ever by a Test team. The series victory extends India’s lead at the top of the World Test Championship rankings ahead of Australia in second. Adblock test (Why?)
Israeli bombardment kills at least 31 in Gaza
Israeli air strikes have killed at least 31 people in Gaza, local medics reported. The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it had carried out a strike targeting a Hamas command centre. However, it made no immediate comment on two strikes on two houses that Palestinian health officials said killed at least 13 people, including women and children, in Nuseirat. The other strike, on a school sheltering displaced Palestinian families in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City, killed at least seven people, medics said. The Israeli military said in a statement the air strike targeted Hamas fighters operating from a command centre embedded in a compound that had previously served as Shujayea School. It accused Hamas of using the civilian population and facilities for military purposes, which Hamas denies. Later on Tuesday, two separate Israeli attacks killed five Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and in the Zeitoun suburb of Gaza City, medics said. In Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave, six Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a tent housing displaced people, medics said. The armed wings of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and other smaller factions said in separate statements that their fighters attacked Israeli forces operating in several areas of Gaza with antitank rockets, mortar fire and explosive devices. The renewed surge in strikes on Gaza came as Israel launched a ground operation in Lebanon, saying its paratroopers and commandos were engaged in intense fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah. The conflict follows devastating Israeli air strikes against Hezbollah’s leadership. Some Palestinians said they feared that Israel’s shift in focus to Lebanon could prolong the conflict in Gaza, which marks its first anniversary next week. “The eyes of the world now are on Lebanon while the occupation continues its killing in Gaza. We are afraid the war is going to go on for more months at least,” said Samir Mohammed, 46, a father of five from Gaza City. “It is all unclear now as Israel unleashes its force undeterred in Gaza, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and God knows where else in the future.” Adblock test (Why?)
Rutte declares Ukraine ‘top priority’ as he takes over as NATO head
NATO must ensure that Ukraine prevails in its war against Russia, the new head of the transatlantic military alliance said after he took charge. Mark Rutte branded Ukraine his “top priority” as he formally became NATO secretary-general at a ceremony in Brussels on Tuesday. The former Dutch prime minister took over the job from Jens Stoltenberg more than three months after the alliance’s 32 members appointed him. Stating that he “cannot wait to get to work”, Rutte told journalists: “We have to make sure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign, independent, democratic nation.” He also noted that, amid the growing war between Israel and Hezbollah, monitoring the situation in Lebanon is also at the top of his list. The new NATO chief also asserted that he is not worried about the upcoming presidential election in the United States as he could work with either candidate. It has been suggested that the Republican candidate, former US President Donald Trump, could cut support to Ukraine or weaken security guarantees for some NATO members should he return to the White House after the November elections. Rutte noted Trump’s continued push for NATO allies to spend more on defence, but said he was not worried as he had worked with the US presidential hopeful before. “He was also pushing us on China, and I think he was right there,” he added. The NATO chief also noted that ramping up Western defence industry production and deepening ties with partners in the Asia Pacific as important tasks. “Mark has the perfect background to become a great secretary-general,” a visibly emotional Stoltenberg said as he ended a decade in office. “He has served as prime minister for 14 years and led four different coalition governments … therefore he knows how to make compromises, create consensus, and these are skills which are very much valued here at NATO,” he said. Rutte will likely need to call on such skills to navigate uncertainty over future Western support for Ukraine. Aside from the ambiguity around future US support, the European Union’s policies have been weighted down by opposition from the likes of Hungary. No change Meanwhile, Russian forces have been advancing on the battlefield more than two-and-a-half years after the Kremlin’s all-out invasion. On Tuesday morning, seven people, including three women, were killed when Russian troops shelled the southern city of Kherson, according to Ukraine’s General Prosecutor’s Office. The attack came in an area near a central bus stop and a central market at about 9am (06:00 GMT), the office said in a statement. Governor Oleksandr Prokudin published a video showing the blurred corpses in civilian clothes lying near a market stall with tomatoes and other vegetables. Russia has denied targeting civilians but has regularly struck towns and cities behind the front line. Kyiv has urged its allies to raise military aid to help it repel such attacks. NATO, whose members have supplied 99 percent of all foreign weaponry to Ukraine, agreed at a summit in July to play a bigger role in delivering arms to Kyiv and Rutte would be key in stewarding that support. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media he wants to work “productively” with Rutte towards bringing his country into the military alliance – an idea that Russia has declared a red line. I congratulate Mark Rutte on taking up his duties as NATO Secretary General. I wish him every success in this new role and look forward to working productively together to strengthen Euro-Atlantic security and our partnership with the Alliance, as Ukraine continues on its path… — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 1, 2024 “I wish him every success in this new role and look forward to working productively together to strengthen Euro-Atlantic security and our partnership with the alliance, as Ukraine continues on its path towards full-fledged NATO membership,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. A spokesman for the Kremlin said Russia expects no change of policy from the new NATO chief. Adblock test (Why?)
Flares and explosions as Israel announces Lebanon offensive
NewsFeed Flares and explosions were seen across the Israel-Lebanon border as the Israeli military announced the start of a ground offensive in southern Lebanon on Monday. Published On 1 Oct 20241 Oct 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Video: Israel’s army reports ‘intense fighting’ in southern Lebanon
NewsFeed An Israeli army spokesperson says intense fighting is taking place against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where Israel’s military earlier said it had begun a ground offensive. Published On 1 Oct 20241 Oct 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Massive search and rescue operation in wake of Hurricane Helene
Crews have airlifted emergency food and water into remote North Carolina towns that were cut off and devastated as tropical storm Helene turned the western part of the state into a “post-apocalyptic” landscape. A hurricane when it slammed into the Florida Gulf coast on Thursday, Helene tore a destructive path through southeastern US states, ripping up roads, tossing homes about and severing lines of communication. The storm killed more than 100 people in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia. The death toll is expected to rise once rescue teams reach isolated towns and emergency telecommunications assets come online. Throughout North Carolina, some 300 roads were closed, more than 7,000 people have registered for United States Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance, and the National Guard was flying 1,000 tonnes of food and water to remote areas by plane and helicopter, officials told a news briefing. Among the demolished towns was the tiny hamlet of Bat Cave, about 100 miles (160km) west of Charlotte, where the Broad River – in what climate scientists called a 1,000-year event – rose to unprecedented levels, washed away homes and broke through the town bridge. The US government, states and localities are engaged in a massive recovery effort throughout the southeast. People were stranded without running water and 1.8 million homes and businesses remained without power on Monday, according to the website Poweroutage.us. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said at least 25 people in his state had died, including a firefighter responding to emergency calls during the storm and a mother and her one-month-old twins who were killed by a falling tree. South Carolina has reported at least 29 dead. In North Carolina’s mountainous Buncombe County, which includes the tourist destination of Asheville, 40 people died, the county manager said. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper took an aerial tour of the damage and said “significant resources” would be needed in the short and long term. “The devastation was beyond belief, and even when you prepare for something like this, this is something that’s never happened before in western North Carolina. Search and rescue teams are continuing to work,” Cooper told a news briefing. Some 1,200 federal personnel are on the ground, in addition to state and local responders. The US Army Corps of Engineers is planning major debris removal. Adblock test (Why?)
Israel says ‘next phase’ of war with Hezbollah in Lebanon to ‘begin soon’
Israel has warned that it will use “all the means” at its disposal to attack the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah amid growing fears of a ground assault on Lebanon. “The next phase in the war against Hezbollah will begin soon,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told a meeting of local council heads in northern Israel on Monday, according to a statement from his office. Earlier, Gallant told troops that Israel would “use all the means that may be required … from the air, from the sea, and on land.” To allow displaced residents of the border area to return safely home, “we will employ all of our capabilities, and this includes you,” Gallant told troops. Hezbollah began low-intensity strikes on Israeli troops a day after Israel launched its assault on Gaza last October in response to an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas. Israel and Hezbollah have traded near-daily fire across the Israel-Lebanon border for almost a year, prompting tens of thousands of people on both sides to flee their homes. Israel’s military escalated the fighting this month, leaving people across the region fearful of even more violence to come. Some Israeli forces have already conducted small-scale ground operations in Lebanon, several international media outlets reported, and Israel’s air force has bombarded targets across the country in recent days. Israel has killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and several of the group’s top commanders in strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, and continued a campaign of air attacks on Hezbollah sites in eastern and southern Lebanon. More than 1,000 people have been killed since Israel escalated its attacks. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets and missiles at Israeli targets. On Monday, the Lebanese-armed group said its fighters targeted northern Israel’s Gesher Haziv settlement with a “salvo of rockets”. In a statement, the Lebanese group said it also fired rockets at Israeli military positions in the occupied Golan Heights and fired a long-range anti-ship cruise missile at Kfar Giladi, a rural cooperative community known as a kibbutz. In a separate statement, Hezbollah said it fired Fadi 1 missiles at areas in northern Haifa. In the group’s first broadcast address since Nasrallah’s assassination, Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said it is prepared for any potential ground incursion and a long war. When asked about reports that Israel is preparing for a “limited” ground invasion of Lebanon, US President Joe Biden called for a ceasefire. Asked if he was comfortable with Israel’s plan, Biden replied: “I’m comfortable with them stopping.” However, he did not elaborate on any plans to halt the conflict, or discuss US supplies of weapons and military aid to ally Israel. Israel has told the US about a number of operations, the State Department said on Monday. “I know I’ve seen reports about ground operations. We’ve had some conversations with them about that. They have at this time told us that those are limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border. But we’re in continuous conversations with them about it,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters. Yossi Beilin, Israel’s former justice minister, told Al Jazeera that neither Hezbollah nor Israel “wants a ground battle” because “there is always a lethal price on both sides, people will be killed, and it should be prevented”. He said that both sides need to renegotiate UN Resolution 1701, referring to the 2006 resolution to end the Israel-Hezbollah conflict at the time and pave the way for improved security along the border. “I think we should rebuild the relations between Israel and Lebanon”, Beilin added. Reporting from Marjayoun in southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan said that since the morning, Israeli air strikes have pounded the south of the country. He added that the Bekaa Valley, eastern Lebanon, as well as Baalbek and the road towards Syria have been hit. “The death toll is climbing as well: 136 people killed in the last 24 hours, and that is something that is putting a tremendous amount of pressure on the emergency services. They’re simply running out of people and ambulances to be able to service the entire area,” he said. Among those killed were three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine group, who were targeted in the Kola area of Beirut in Israel’s first attack on the Lebanese capital beyond the southern suburbs. Fatah Sharif, a Hamas top commander in Lebanon, was also killed along with his wife, son and daughter in an air strike on El Buss refugee camp, one of 12 dedicated to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, in the southern port city of Tyre on Monday. The Israeli military confirmed it had targeted him. Sharif was also an employee of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and was suspended from the agency earlier this year following allegations regarding his politics. The UNRWA chief has denied knowing that Sharif was a Hamas commander. “I never heard the word ‘commander’ before,” Philippe Lazzarini told reporters in Geneva. “What’s obvious for you today, was not obvious yesterday.” More than 100,000 people have fled to Syria from Lebanon since the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah this month. About 118,466 new displacements have occurred between September 23 and 27, the UN’s World Health Organization said in a situation report. The agency added that Lebanon’s health system also remains impacted and overstretched by a new escalation of violence in the country. Lebanon’s acting Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said that the government is ready to fully implement the 2006 UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that aimed to end Hezbollah’s armed presence south of the Litani River as part of an agreement to stop war with Israel. Adblock test (Why?)
More than 100 killed by Hurricane Helene
NewsFeed Clean up and rescue efforts are underway after Hurricane Helene wrought havoc across 5 states in the US. More than a 100 people have been killed and hundreds more are missing. Published On 30 Sep 202430 Sep 2024 Adblock test (Why?)