Cristiano Ronaldo poised for record as Portugal name squad for Euro 2024
The veteran striker will lead Portugal’s bid to win a second Euro title after being included in the 26-man squad. Cristiano Ronaldo is likely to set a Euro record after he was named in Portugal’s 26-man 2024 squad, unveiled by coach Roberto Martinez. The squad announcement on Tuesday all but confirmed that the 39-year-old, five-time Ballon d’Or winner will be appearing in his 11th major international tournament when Euro 2024 kicks off June 14 in Germany. He played his first at Euro 2004 and will be making a record sixth appearance at the men’s continental championship. He collected a winner’s medal in France in 2016, even though he went off injured after 25 minutes in the final. Ronaldo, who plays his club football for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, already holds the men’s world record for caps (206) and international goals (128). He again proved indispensable as Portugal won all 10 of their qualifying games, scoring 36 goals and conceding two. Ronaldo hit 10 goals in nine qualifying appearances. Praising “a player who has scored 42 goals in 41 matches for his club”, Martinez said he felt that the striker continued to offer “a quality in front of goal that we really appreciate and need”. In spite of his advancing years, Ronaldo will not be the senior player in the squad. His former Real Madrid teammate Pepe, 41, and now playing for Porto, has also been called up because of his “important role in the dressing room”, said Martinez. Before facing the Czech Republic, Turkey and then Georgia in Group F of the Euro, from 14 June to 14 July in Germany, the Selecao will play warm-up matches against Finland, Croatia and Ireland. Alongside Ronaldo in attack, Martinez has selected strikers Rafael Leao, Joao Felix and Goncalo Ramos, as well as Pedro Neto and Francisco Conceicao. The creative midfielders include Bernardo Silva, who has just won an English title with Manchester City, and Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United. Squad: Goalkeepers: Diogo Costa (Porto), Rui Patricio Roma/ITA), Jose Sa (Wolves/ENG) Defenders: Joao Cancelo (Barcelona/ESP), Nelson Semedo (Wolves/ENG), Diogo Dalot (Manchester United/ENG), Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain/FRA), Ruben Dias (Manchester City/ENG), Antonio Silva (Benfica), Goncalo Inacio (Sporting), Pepe (Porto), Danilo Pereira (Paris Saint-Germain/FRA) Midfielders: Joao Palhinha (Fulham/ENG), Ruben Neves (Al-Hilal/KSA), Joao Neves (Benfica), Vitinha (Paris Saint-Germain/FRA), Otavio Monteiro (Al Nassr/KSA), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United/ENG), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City/ENG) Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr/KSA), Rafael Leao (AC Milan/ITA), Joao Felix (FC Barcelona/ESP), Goncalo Ramos (Paris SG/FRA), Diogo Jota (Liverpool/ENG), Pedro Neto (Wolves/ENG), Francisco Conceicao (Porto) Adblock test (Why?)
‘We love Taiwan’: Domestic workers hope for more from new President Lai
Taipei, Taiwan – As Taiwan’s President William Lai Ching-te begins his four-year term, the democratic island’s legions of Southeast Asian migrant domestic workers are hoping he will push ahead with labour reforms that might improve their working lives. According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Labour, there were more than 760,000 foreign workers on the island as of the end of March, most of them from Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Many work in manufacturing and construction, but they also look after the elderly in healthcare facilities as well as in private homes – a key role considering Taiwan’s rapidly ageing society. While Taiwan’s monthly minimum salary was increased to 27,470 New Taiwan dollars ($853) this year, migrant domestic workers, who also have to pay expenses related to their recruitment, were excluded. William Lai officially took over as Taiwan’s new president on Monday [Taiwan Presidential Office via AFP] Bonny Ling, the executive director of Work Better Innovations (WBI) – a social enterprise that advocates for decent working conditions, including for Southeast Asians in Taiwan – says the new government should take steps to address the fees workers pay. This includes fees before they leave – for things such as medical checks, visas, training and flights – and once they are on the island. Ling says recruitment costs should be paid by employers in the same way as for high-wage workers. “We really need to be honest with ourselves and ask: why is this the case, are we saying that low-waged work is less valuable?” she told Al Jazeera. “Are we saying that those who are the least able to bear the cost of recruitment should pay, sometimes several months of their work to years go back into paying these fees and costs – is this just?” Taiwan, with a population of more than 23 million, is expected to become a “super-aged society” by 2025, according to its National Development Council. Ratih Kabinawa, an adjunct research fellow at the University of Western Australia’s School of Social Sciences, said an increasing number of women were also having to go out to work to help boost family incomes. “These Taiwanese families entrust their parents to the care of migrant workers,” she said. Al Jazeera asked three Southeast Asian caregivers in Taiwan about their lives. Anggi Sofiasyah Lacuba, 29 Anggi Sofiasyah Lacuba hopes to one day pursue a master’s degree in Taiwan [Randy Mulyanto/Al Jazeera] Originally from Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, Anggi Sofiasyah Lacuba has worked for several Taiwanese families since moving to the island in 2020. Since mid-2023, the 29-year-old has been taking care of a grandmother, now in her 90s, in eastern Taiwan’s Hualien County. Anggi said she did not entirely support ending the role of recruitment agents in Taiwan because it could disadvantage people unable to speak Mandarin, but she felt that, on balance, it would be a “very good” move. The mother of two paid about 30 million Indonesian rupiah ($1,881) to her agency in Indonesia to secure her job in Taiwan. The fees covered one month of training, language classes and meals in East Java before departure, as well as a flight ticket to the island. They were deducted from her wages during her first seven months of work. A fee for the recruitment agency’s Taiwanese office was also taken from her monthly pay. With the fees paid off, Anggi now takes home some 20,000 New Taiwan dollars ($621) a month. “If agencies are abolished, can employers allow it if we have things outside [work] – whether we arrange our health insurances, passport, visa or whatever?” she told Al Jazeera. These issues are currently handled by agents. Anggi hopes to return home in the next year or two so she can apply for a student visa and go back to Taiwan to pursue a master’s degree on a scholarship. She hopes Lai’s administration will help ease the visa application process. Sandra Suril, 48 Sandra Suril would like the government to remove the monthly broker’s fee that workers need to pay [Randy Mulyanto/Al Jazeera] Sandra Suril, a mother of three, has worked in New Taipei, near the Taiwanese capital, since 2017. She is from Baguio in the northern Philippine island of Luzon. She takes care of a blind man, now in his 20s, accompanying him to university and making sure he takes his medication, among other responsibilities. Suril says she hopes the government will “remove the brokers’ fee because we are always paying [1,500 New Taiwan dollars, or $47, monthly]” even though brokers are “sometimes useless” and fail to help when there is a problem with an employer. The 48-year-old says she could save more money if the payment was stopped since she has already paid off the other fees to her agency. Suril has had only one job since arriving in Taiwan and says she expects to stay for about 12 years – enough time for her children to earn their university degrees. That will be “my big achievement, if it will happen”, she said. Miean Coilan, 58 Miean Coilan says one month’s salary in Taiwan is equivalent to four-months pay back home in the Philippines [Randy Mulyanto/Al Jazeera] Miean Coilan started work in Taiwan the same year as Suril. Like her, she is from Baguio. Coilan has been looking after a grandmother, now in her 90s, and doing household chores throughout her time on the island. She says one month’s salary in Taiwan is equivalent to “four months” pay back home. The 58-year-old said she would like to see the end of the limits on the length of time migrant workers are allowed to stay on the island. Like other migrant workers, those working in care can stay for a maximum of 12 years, but if they meet certain requirements on training and performance, they can remain for an additional two years. “If I [have the chance to] talk to the president, I will say ‘no end contract’,” she told Al Jazeera. “Even [if] we are [over] 50 years old, 60 years old,
‘No equivalence’: Biden defends Israel after ICC requests arrest warrants
US president insists Israel and Hamas cannot be compared after ICC seeks warrants over alleged Israeli war crimes. United States President Joe Biden has defended Israel against war crimes charges in the world’s top courts. Biden’s remarks came after Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), said he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes committed during the war in Gaza. “Let me be clear, we reject the ICC’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders,” Biden said at a Jewish American Heritage Month event at the White House on Monday, the same day Khan announced he was applying for the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, as well as Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes. “There is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas,” Biden added. Hours earlier, he had issued a strongly-worded statement saying that the ICC warrants were “outrageous”. Israel is also facing a separate case on alleged genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which was brought by South Africa. Biden said that Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza. “Contrary to allegations against Israel made by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), what’s happening in Gaza is not genocide. We reject that,” Biden said in his speech. In January, the ICJ ruled there was a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza, ordering Israel to take a series of provisional measures, including preventing any genocidal acts from taking place. While Biden’s defence of Israel was met with warm applause at the White House event, his election campaign has been marred by pro-Palestinian protests across the US, with some antiwar advocates labelling the president “Genocide Joe”. Panel of experts The ICC prosecutor outlined specific charges against Netanyahu and Gallant, including “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” and “extermination”, although he said his full investigation was ongoing. Khan also applied for arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders – Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (also known as Deif) and Ismail Haniyeh – for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including extermination and murder, the taking of captives, torture, rape and other acts of sexual violence. The charges were supported by evidence prepared by a panel of experts that included international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney. In a statement issued on the report prepared by the experts, Clooney wrote, “I do not accept that any conflict should be beyond the reach of the law, nor that any perpetrator should be above the law.” Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney helped prepare an expert report on evidence of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and Gaza for the ICC chief prosecutor [File: Heinz-Peter Bader/Getty Images] Some US Republican lawmakers were even more forceful in their criticism of the ICC prosecuting Israel on Monday. “My colleagues and I look forward to make sure neither Khan, his associates nor their families will ever set foot again in the United States,” Republican Senator Tom Cotton wrote on X. The ICC is the world’s first permanent international war crimes court and its 124 member states are obliged to immediately arrest the wanted person if they are on a member state’s territory. The US is not a member of the ICC and its “biggest leverage” could be to pressure its allies – mostly European nations which are signatories to the ICC – to not act on the warrants, said Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro, reporting from Washington, DC. Israel is not a member of the ICC. Nor are China and Russia. International reactions to the ICC prosecutor’s plan to issue arrest warrants have been mixed. In comments delivered to the United Nations Security Council, Switzerland’s UN envoy Pascale Baeriswyl said his country “fully supports the court and stresses the importance of respecting its independence”. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2023 over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, but Monday’s step marked the first time the court has sought to intervene in the conflict in the Middle East. Adblock test (Why?)
‘Lone wolf’ or JI?: Jemaah Islamiyah confusion after Malaysia attack
Medan, Indonesia – Malaysia has been the target of a rare deadly attack after a man armed with a machete struck a police station in southern Johor state, killing two police officers and injuring a third. Initially, Malaysian police said they suspected Friday’s incident was linked to the hardline group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and was probably an attempt to steal weapons. Speaking to the media after the attack in the town of Ulu Tiram, Inspector General of Police Razarudin Husain said police raided the suspect’s house and discovered “JI-related paraphernalia”. Five members of his family were arrested, including the suspect’s 62-year-old father, who police said was a “known JI member”. Two other people, who were in the police station making a report at the time of the attack in the early hours of Friday morning, were also detained. But on Saturday, Malaysia’s Minister of Home Affairs Saifuddin Nasution Ismail appeared to backtrack on the JI connection, describing the attacker as a “lone wolf” who was “driven by certain motivations based on his own understanding because he rarely mixed with others”. Former members of JI in Indonesia told Al Jazeera that an attack by the group on Malaysian soil seemed unlikely. Speaking from prison in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, where he is serving a life sentence for his role in JI’s 2002 Bali bombing, which killed more than 200 people, Ali Imron told Al Jazeera that JI’s profile in Malaysia did not seem to fit the police station attack. “There have never been any JI members in Malaysia who agreed to commit acts of violence like this,” he said. “Before the Bali bombing, there were attacks in Malaysia, but these were committed not by JI but Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia [KMM].” KMM, a hardline group linked to JI, carried out small-scale attacks in Malaysia in the early 2000s. Rueben Dass, a senior analyst at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, noted that JI had never previously mounted attacks in Malaysia. “Malaysia was always considered an economic region for JI, not the focus of attacks,” he told Al Jazeera. “The Malaysian authorities were always vigilant and aware, particularly after KMM became active. They have been on their toes and carried out a wave of arrests in the early 2000s of JI members.” Since then, he said, JI had maintained a low profile. “To see them coming up again is a little surprising,” he added. Indonesia, which saw a spate of JI attacks in the late 1990s and early 2000s – including attacks on churches on Christmas Eve 2000, the Bali bombings and the 2003 attack on Jakarta’s JW Marriott Hotel – has also been largely successful in clamping down. In 2003, with funding and training from the United States and Australia, it established the Counterterrorism Special Detachment 88 (Densus 88), and later set up a National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT). Indonesian authorities have also pioneered a range of deradicalisation programmes, using former members of hardline groups including JI, with recidivism rates at about 11 percent, according to the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, a Jakarta-based think tank. History of JI JI was founded by Indonesian Muslim scholar Abu Bakar Bashir and Abdullah Sungkar in 1993, with a mission to establish an Islamic caliphate across Southeast Asia. The group has historically been linked to al-Qaeda, from which it reportedly received funding and training in the 1990s and early 2000s. It has had members in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia and the Philippines. JI was officially banned in Indonesia in 2007, leading to the group splintering. Some members focused on dakwah or proselytisation, while others continued to plot violent attacks. Arrests have continued across the region with members accused of stockpiling weapons and bomb-making equipment. According to open source data, between 2021 and 2023, out of 610 people arrested In Indonesia, 42 percent were JI and 39 percent were from other hardline groups – including Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) and other pro-Islamic State groups. The majority of JI senior figures have been either executed, shot dead in police raids or jailed. The 2002 attack in Bali, which killed more than 200 people, shocked Southeast Asia [File: AP] Both Bashir and Sungkar lived in Malaysia in the 1980s and 1990s, in addition to senior members such as Indonesian Encep Nurjaman (alias Hambali) and Malaysians Noordin Mohammed Top and Azahari Husin. Ali Ghufron (alias Mukhlas), Amrozi bin Nurhasyim and Imam Samudra, the masterminds of the Bali bombing, also spent time in Malaysia. Hambali was arrested in Thailand in 2003 and is currently awaiting trial at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, while Samudra, Amrozi and Mukhlas were executed in 2008. The two Malaysians were shot in separate police raids in Indonesia in 2005 and 2009. Before his death, Noordin ran the Luqmanul Hakiem Islamic boarding school in Malaysia, which was founded by Bashir and Sungkar and was in Ulu Tiram, close to the home of the suspect of Friday’s attack. Malaysia closed the school in 2002 amid suspicions it was being used to recruit people to JI. Style of attack While the profile of the suspect’s father, and the proximity to Luqmanul Hakiem, might have suggested a JI connection, Imron cautioned against such an analysis. “If the son followed his father, there is no way he would have committed this act, so there is a strong possibility that he was inspired by ISIS [ISIL],” Imron said, suggesting the Malaysian authorities had “jumped to that conclusion.” Umar Patek, who was released from prison in 2022 after serving 11 years of a 20-year sentence for mixing some of the chemicals used in the Bali Bombing, told Al Jazeera that he “did not believe” that the attacker was a member of JI and agreed that the attack appeared to have the hallmarks of another group. “I am very doubtful,” he said. “I don’t understand it, especially carrying out a violent attack. It is impossible in my view that it was JI, but it is possible that it was ISIS.” The style
Cohen faces more cross-examination as Trump’s trial enters final stretch
Donald Trump’s former lawyer is the prosecution’s last witness in the ex-president’s hush-money trial in New York. Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen faces another day of cross-examination, as the ex-United States president’s hush-money trial enters the final stretch this week in New York. The landmark trial kicks back off in Manhattan on Monday morning with more defence questioning of Cohen, whose pivotal testimony last week directly tied Trump to the alleged hush-money scheme. Cohen is the prosecution’s last witness and it’s not yet clear whether Trump’s attorneys will call any witnesses – such as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee himself. Last week, Cohen told jurors how he kept Trump informed about $130,000 paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence about an affair she says she had with Trump. The ex-president has denied the affair took place. The payment, prosecutors have argued, was part of a scheme aimed at stifling negative press that could have harmed Trump’s chances in the 2016 election, which he won. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business documents related to the payments, and said he is the victim of a politically motivated “witch hunt”. “There’s no crime,” Trump told reporters after arriving at the courthouse on Monday. “We paid a legal expense. You know what it’s marked down as? A legal expense.” His lawyers are seeking to discredit Cohen’s testimony, painting him as a serial liar who is on a revenge campaign aimed at taking down the former president. Trump’s defence team has already questioned Cohen for hours about his criminal history and past lies. Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal charges related to the hush-money payments, as well as for lying to Congress. He was sentenced to three years in prison. He has said repeatedly he takes “responsibility” for his actions and has faced the consequences. Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey, reporting from outside the courthouse in New York last week, said “It all really comes down to [Cohen’s] word.” “And his word has been highly suspect from the beginning of this case, given that he’s gone to jail for lying under oath in the past,” Saloomey said. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office is expected to rest its case once Cohen is off the stand, but prosecutors would have an opportunity to call rebuttal witnesses if Trump’s lawyers present witnesses of their own. The judge has told lawyers to be prepared for closing arguments as early as Tuesday, though the timing will depend on whether the defence calls any witnesses, which it is not obligated to do. Defence lawyers said they have not decided whether Trump will testify. Adblock test (Why?)
Phase 5 of India election held in Gandhi bastions, Ladakh, Ram Temple town
Indians have voted in the fifth phase of a mammoth general election, the world’s largest with nearly 970 million eligible voters, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a rare third term. Monday’s phase had the fewest constituencies going to the polls with 89.5 million voters eligible to vote for 49 seats in the lower house of parliament across six states and two union territories. The staggered seven-phase vote began on April 19 and has already decided the fate of 428 of 543 members of the Lok Sabha. Results will be declared on June 4. Gandhi family bastions Two boroughs that are strongholds of the main opposition Indian National Congress party’s Nehru-Gandhi dynasty went to the polls on Monday. Family scion Rahul Gandhi is contesting from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh in addition to Wayanad in Kerala, which has already voted. India allows candidates to contest multiple constituencies, but they can represent only one. If he wins both, he would choose one, and the other would hold a new election. Rae Bareli has returned a Congress candidate in 17 of the 20 elections held there since 1952, mostly members of the Gandhi family. Rahul’s mother and former Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, has represented the seat four times in parliament but decided not to contest this year. “I am handing over my son to you. Just as you made me yours, please treat him as one of your own. He will not disappoint you,” Sonia Gandhi said on Friday as she made an emotional appeal to voters during a rally in the family borough with Rahul and her daughter, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Smriti Irani, the federal minister for women and child development, is contesting from adjacent Amethi, where she defeated Rahul Gandhi in 2019. The Congress has fielded longtime family loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma against Irani. Uttar Pradesh is India’s most populous state and elects 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha, the most of any state. In 2019, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies won 64 seats, including Amethi and Rae Bareli. Ladakh votes for statehood In Ladakh on the border with China and Pakistan, Buddhist monks and Muslims voted to demand statehood and protection of their culture in an overwhelmingly Hindu nation. Ladakh was part of Indian-administered Kashmir before Modi’s government scrapped its semiautonomous status in 2019 and made them both union territories, imposing direct rule. At the time, Buddhists in the high-altitude region celebrated, expecting they would soon enjoy greater rights. But the federal government has yet to fulfil its promise to include Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule of India’s Constitution, which allows Indigenous tribal people to make their own laws and policies. Almost half the people in the sparsely populated desert region of Ladakh are Muslim, and about 40 percent are Buddhist, putting it among the least Hindu places in the country. Residents have long demanded a legislature of their own, constitutional protection of the local culture and measures to defend its fragile environment. All three candidates running for its seat – held by Modi’s BJP – are promising to ensure change happens to protect the local culture and land. Voters, including Buddhist monks in ochre robes, lined up to cast their ballots at polling stations in Leh, the territory’s main town, as the surrounding mountains are still snow-capped even as much of India swelters in a heatwave. “We need protection,” Stanzin Norphel, 74, said after casting his vote. “This government has destroyed Ladakh.” Umila Bano, a 59-year-old Muslim, said she voted for a candidate “who I think will actually work for getting us included in the Sixth Schedule”. “Ladakh needs it,” she said. Former chief minister of Indian-administered Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, contested from Baramulla, one of three seats in the Muslim-majority valley area of Kashmir. Test for Modi’s Hindu nationalist politics In January, Modi inaugurated a Hindu temple built on the site of a razed Mughal-era mosque in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh state’s Ayodhya. On Monday, the northern city swarmed with voters, many of them Hindu devotees, lining up at polling stations in scorching heat. Shachindra Sharma said while the Ram Temple was a matter of faith for many Hindus like him, he would vote for a party that upholds constitutional values. “Why should the Ram Temple be a guiding factor for voters? Lord Ram is a matter of faith while voting is a democratic process to elect a government. Is there any guarantee that a party advocating for the Ram Temple will provide security and lead the country towards progress?” Sharma asked. His wife, Renuka Sharma, disagreed, arguing that the temple remains a deciding factor in the elections. “I will vote for the party that built the Ram Temple because Lord Ram is the biggest issue in this election,” she said. Analysts said it is not clear whether Modi’s Hindu nationalist pitch can carry him to victory as Indians face rising unemployment and inflation. “Issues like unemployment, inflation, lack of security and the government’s attempts to muzzle dissent are glaring problems that the BJP has no answers to,” said Amarnath Agarwal, a political analyst. He said excitement over the Hindu temple may not have translated into a significant political issue for the ruling party and it is “evident from the lack of interest among voters, reflected in a notably low turnout”. Adblock test (Why?)
Iran’s interim president holds first cabinet meeting
NewsFeed Iran’s interim president, Mohammad Mokhber says the country will continue moving forward despite the death of President Ebrahim Raisi. Mokhber was made interim president by Iran’s Supreme Leader following confirmation that Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash. Mokhber has 50 days to organise the elections for a new Iranian president. Published On 20 May 202420 May 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
‘Troublemaker’ William Lai Ching-te to take oath as Taiwan’s new president
Taipei, Taiwan – William Lai Ching-te will be sworn in on Monday as Taiwan’s sixth democratically-elected president, a role where he is expected to continue steering Taiwan in the same direction as set by his predecessor Tsai Ing-Wen. Lai’s victory at the polls in January marked a narrow but unprecedented win for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Since Taiwan transitioned to democracy in 1996, the DPP and its more Beijing-friendly rival the Kuomintang (KMT) have switched power every eight years, but Lai’s victory broke with that tradition as the DPP won a third term in office. Tsai’s vice president, Lai will have big shoes to fill. During her eight years in office, Tsai dramatically raised Taiwan’s profile abroad while treading a fine line around its disputed political status, lest it upset China or the United States. Tsai’s tenure coincided with a new wave of Taiwanese nationalism, as well as a vision of Taiwan as distinct from China despite its deep historical and cultural ties. She also oversaw major changes for the island, including the legalisation of same-sex marriage in 2019 and the introduction of same-sex adoption in 2022. About 50 foreign delegations, including leaders from allied nations and a contingent of former US officials, will attend Monday’s inauguration [Ritchie B Tongo/EPA] Lai is expected to continue steering the East Asian democracy largely in the same direction, a point he hammered home during the campaign. “William Lai has spent the past two and half years trying to convince the world he is going to be a Tsai Ing-Wen 2.0 figure,” said Lev Nachman, a political scientist at Taiwan’s National Chengchi University. “There’s reason to believe him, even though there is a lot of scepticism about what he in his heart of hearts truly feels, there’s enough structural constraints that are going to stop him from being able to do anything drastic,” he said Lai’s cabinet, named in April, includes several former members of the Tsai administration while his charismatic vice president, Hsiao Bi-khim, 52, was once Taiwan’s top official in the US and is also aligned with the former president. At home, Lai is likely to be constrained by a hung parliament after the DPP lost its small parliamentary majority to the KMT. Abroad, he faces a challenge from the US presidential election in November, whose outcome will dictate regional stability more than anything Lai can do as president, according to Nachman. The US is Taiwan’s chief security guarantor, but it does not want to see a proxy war break out in the Taiwan Strait between itself, Taiwan and China. Neither does Taiwan, where most people support maintaining the island’s ongoing “status quo.” The term is deliberately vague, but it encompasses the viewpoint that Taiwan is already de facto independent despite its lack of formal diplomatic recognition. The island, officially known as the Republic of China, is only recognised by a handful of countries, primarily in the Pacific and the Caribbean. Taiwan is claimed by China’s Communist Party (CCP), which has long threatened to bring it into the fold by force if necessary. Everyday Taiwanese reject that goal, but most do not wish to make a formal declaration of independence because they fear it would lead to a certain war with Beijing. ‘Worker for independence’ or ‘troublemaker’ As innocuous as the term may sound, supporting the “status quo” marks a major ideological shift for Lai, who once upon a time described himself as a “pragmatic worker for Taiwan independence.” Originally trained as a doctor, Lai was compelled to enter politics in 1996 in the wake of the Third Strait Crisis, according to his official biography. The incident saw China conduct missile tests in the Taiwan Strait for several months between 1995 and 1996 as Taiwan geared up for its first direct presidential elections. Lai has come in for sharp criticism from China which claims he is a ‘separatist’ [File: Daniel Piris/EPA] He later served as a legislator, mayor and premier of Taiwan, before he made an unsuccessful bid to challenge Tsai as the DPP presidential candidate ahead of her 2020 re-election. Instead, he became vice president after Tsai won a second term in the presidential office in a landslide. “If you think about Lai now in comparison to the past, you just couldn’t imagine that he is the same person,” said Sanho Chung, a PhD candidate in political science at the University of Arizona whose work includes Taiwan. “If you look at Lai as a mayor back in the day or as a lawmaker, he was kind of radical.” Both Chung and Nachman said they expected a relatively muted response from Beijing ahead of inauguration day, despite a flare-up earlier this month around Taiwan’s outlying island of Kinmen when more than a dozen Chinese vessels entered the island’s restricted waters to carry out “maritime exercises” on May 9. Beijing has continued to send military aircraft into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone, an area of land and sea monitored by the military, but the numbers are consistent with past activity, according to defence analyst Ben Lewis, who tracks Beijing’s activity. Their predictions contrast with Beijing’s belligerent response to a visit by then-US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in August 2022, when it staged several days of military exercises in the Taiwan Strait. Beijing repeated the move a year later when Tsai met Kevin McCarthy, another former House speaker, during an unofficial stopover in California on her way home from meeting allies in Central America. NCCU’s Nachman said China may keep a lower profile as it appears to be attempting to semi-normalise relations with the KMT. Beijing does not recognise Taiwan’s government and has cut off official communication since the DPP’s victory in 2016, but it has kept up unofficial contact touch with the KMT over the past eight years. Tsai Ing-wen raised Taiwan’s international profile and held several high-profile meetings with senior US officials, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in April 2023 [Frederic J Brown/AFP] The KMT and the
‘Bring Julian home’: the Australian campaign to free Assange
Melbourne, Australia – At home in Australia, Julian Assange’s family and friends are preparing for his possible extradition to the United States, ahead of what could be his final hearing in the United Kingdom on Monday. Assange’s half-brother Gabriel Shipton, who spoke to Al Jazeera from Melbourne before flying to London, said he had already booked a flight to the US. A filmmaker who worked on blockbusters like Mad Max before producing a documentary on his brother, Shipton has travelled the world advocating for Assange’s release, from Mexico City to London and Washington, DC. Earlier this year, he was a guest of cross-bench supporters of Assange at US President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. The invitation reflected interest in his brother’s case both in Washington, DC and back home in Australia. Biden told journalists last month he was “considering” a request from Australia to drop the US prosecution. Assange rose to prominence with the launch of Wikileaks in 2006, creating an online whistleblower platform for people to submit classified material such as documents and videos anonymously. Footage of a US Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad, which killed a dozen people, including two journalists, raised the platform’s profile, while the 2010 release of thousands of classified US documents on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as a trove of diplomatic cables, cemented its reputation. Shipton told Al Jazeera the recent attention from Washington, DC had been notable, even as his brother’s options to fight extradition in the UK appeared close to running out. “To get attention there on a case of a single person is very significant, particularly after Julian’s been fighting this extradition for five years,” Shipton told Al Jazeera, adding that he hoped the Australian prime minister was following up with Biden. “We’re always trying to encourage the Australian government to do more.” A test for US democracy Assange’s possible extradition to the US could see freedom of expression thrown into the spotlight during an election year that has already seen mass arrests at student antiwar protests. Shipton told Al Jazeera the pro-Palestinian protests had helped bring “freedom of speech, freedom to assembly, particularly in the United States, front of mind again”, issues he notes have parallels with his brother’s story. While Wikileaks published material about many countries, it was the administration of former US President Donald Trump that charged Assange in 2019 with 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act. US lawyers argue Assange is guilty of conspiring with Chelsea Manning, a former army intelligence analyst, who spent seven years in prison for leaking material to WikiLeaks before former US President Barack Obama commuted her sentence. “It’s an invaluable resource that remains utterly essential to understand how power works, not just US power, but global power,” Antony Loewenstein, an independent Australian journalist and author, said of the Wikileaks archive. “I always quote and detail [Wikileaks’s] work on a range of issues from the drug war, to Israel/Palestine, to the US war on terror, to Afghanistan,” Loewenstein said, noting that Wikileaks also published materials on Bashar al-Assad’s Syria and Vladimir Putin’s Russia. “It’s just an incredible historical resource,” he said. Loewenstein’s most recent book, the Palestine Laboratory, explores Israel’s role in spreading mass surveillance around the world, another issue Loewenstein notes, that Assange often spoke about. “One thing that Julian has often said, and he’s correct, is that the internet is on the one hand an incredibly powerful information tool… but it’s also the biggest mass surveillance tool ever designed in history,” said Loewenstein. Emma Shortis, a senior researcher in international and security affairs at the Canberra-based think tank The Australia Institute, told Al Jazeera that while she hoped Assange would not be extradited, if he was, his case might come to trial around November’s US election when Biden is hoping to beat off a challenge from presumptive Republican candidate Trump. Prosecuting a First Amendment case against an Australian while presenting the election as “an existential test for American democracy” would be “politically irreconcilable” for Biden, Shortis said. As the Biden administration struggles to attract young voters disenchanted over its support for Israel’s war on Gaza, Shortis noted that younger generations were aware of the underlying issues Assange’s case could bring up. “I think young people, in particular, are deeply aware of those contradictions and the way that American power functions and the way it selectively bestows rights on people,” she said. For Loewenstein, pursuing Assange would set “an incredibly dangerous precedent at a time where in so many countries freedom of the press is under attack”. “This is not by any means a defence of Biden, I’ve been critical of him for 20 years, but a second Trump term would be a real acceleration of that authoritarian turn, including against the press and journalists and freedom of information,” Loewenstein added. Demonstrators gather outside Australia House to protest against the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, in London [Alberto Pezzali/AP] At home in Australia Assange’s supporters include the national journalist association the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) and a cross-bench alliance of parliamentarians, including independent Andrew Wilkie. “Surely this man has suffered enough,” Wilkie implored the Australian parliament earlier this year. “Who could possibly forget the grainy image, provided to WikiLeaks by a brave whistleblower, that subsequently was released under the title ‘collateral murder‘?”, Wilkie said. “It was footage of a US attack helicopter gunning down and killing innocent civilians and Reuters journalists in a street in Iraq,” he added. Many of Assange’s supporters fear his possible extradition to the US could come with serious personal consequences. He was first arrested in London in 2010 on a Swedish warrant accusing him of sexual assault. Allowed bail pending the extradition case, Assange took refuge in Ecuador’s London Embassy in 2012 after a court ruled he could be sent to Sweden for trial. He spent the next seven years in the tiny embassy – during which Swedish police withdrew the rape charges – before UK police arrested
Who is Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi?
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has disappeared after the helicopter he was in went down in the country’s East Azerbaijan province. The 63-year-old political heavyweight has long been regarded as the natural successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran. An established presence with deep connections in the judiciary and religious elite, Raisi – a hardline and religiously conservative politician – first ran for the presidency in 2017 but failed. He was eventually elected in 2021. Early years Raisi began studying at the renowned Qom religious seminary at the young age of 15, and proceeded to learn under several of the top clerics of the time. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi went missing after a day in the country’s east where he visited the Qiz-Qalasi dam with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev [West Asia News Agency via Reuters] In his early 20s, he was appointed prosecutor in successive cities until he went to the capital Tehran to work as a deputy prosecutor. In 1983, he married Jamileh Alamolhoda, the daughter of Mashhad’s Friday Prayer Imam Ahmad Alamolhoda. They went on to have two daughters. For five months in 1988, he was part of a committee overseeing a series of executions of political prisoners, a past that has made him unpopular among the Iranian opposition and led to the United States imposing sanctions on him. In 1989, he was appointed prosecutor of Tehran after the death of Iran’s first Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Raisi continued to rise through the ranks under Khomeini’s replacement, Ayatollah Khamenei, becoming chairman of the Astan Quds Razavi, the biggest religious endowment in Mashhad, on March 7, 2016, which cemented his status in Iran’s establishment. Running for president Raisi first ran for president in 2017 against Hassan Rouhani, who was running for reelection. Rouhani had overseen the negotiation of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, restricting its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief. A critic of the 2015 deal – known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – Raisi came from a more hardline bloc than Rouhani, who was seen as a political moderate within Iran’s political system. After his defeat, Raisi began planning for his next presidential campaign. In June 2021, he won 62 percent of the vote, but the election was marred by a low turnout – 48.8 percent – after several reformists and moderates were prevented from standing. By then, the JCPOA was in shambles after the US – under former President Donald Trump – unilaterally withdrew and reimposed sanctions on Iran, severely affecting its economy. The COVID-19 pandemic made matters worse, with the death toll exceeding 97,000 by August 2021. Connections Raisi’s credentials in the religious establishment are strong, with solid relationships with the late Khomeini as well as with Khamenei, who has appointed him to several senior positions. He has also managed to maintain good relations with all branches of government, military and legislative as well as the powerful theocratic ruling class. However, Raisi has led Iran during a time of public anger over a deteriorating standard of living, partly due to sanctions and what critics say has been the prioritisation of defence over domestic issues. In late 2022, public anger erupted over the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police, who had arrested the 22-year-old as she left a metro station in Tehran with members of her family for alleged non-compliance with the country’s mandatory hijab rules. Protests roiled Iran for months, with women taking off or burning their hijabs and cutting their hair off in protest. The rallies came to an end in mid-2023 after some 500 people were killed when security forces moved in to break up the protests, according to foreign human rights organisations. Seven people were executed for their roles in the unrest. A United Nations fact-finding mission concluded in March this year that Iran committed crimes against humanity in the crackdown, including murder, torture and rape. The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in late 2022 led to months of protests in Iran, which eventually ended in a violent crackdown [West Asia News Agency via Reuters] Stand-offs Raisi has not shied away from confrontation internationally either. Angered by the US’s stance towards the JCPOA and the inability of other signatories to save the pact, a defiant Raisi announced that Iran was stepping up its nuclear programme, but that it was not interested in a bomb. More recently, he led Iran through a standoff with Israel as the two countries squared off over Israel’s relentless assault on Gaza, now approaching its eighth month. Iran has been outspoken in its condemnation of Israel’s brutal attacks on Palestinian civilians, as have its regional allies in the so-called “axis of resistance” to Israel and its Western allies. In early April, the Iranian consular building in Damascus was attacked in a strike blamed on Israel, killing seven people including a top commander and his deputy. For almost two weeks, Raisi’s every utterance was the subject of intense scrutiny as the world awaited Tehran’s response. On April 15, Iran launched a well-telegraphed attack that Israel’s chief military spokesman, Daniel Hagari, said involved more than 120 ballistic missiles, 170 drones and more than 30 cruise missiles with most intercepted outside Israel’s borders. Minor damage was reported in some areas of Israel, and the attack led to a token response. The regional rivalry between Iran and Israel could also be seen in Syria, where Israel has launched multiple attacks over the years, ostensibly targeting Iranian military capabilities there. People pray for Raisi’s wellbeing as news of the helicopter’s disappearance spreads [Majid Asgaripour/West Asia News Agency via Reuters] Iran has maintained a close relationship with Syria for years, backing President Bashar al-Assad since he ordered a violent response to peaceful protests in 2011, which led to 13 years of civil war. With military and tactical support, Iran has expanded its influence in Syria while the allied Lebanese group Hezbollah has also bolstered Assad’s forces. Between