Donald Trump wins Nevada, Virgin Islands to close in on Republican nomination

Former US president Donald Trump is close to winning the Republican nomination after back-to-back wins in Iowa and New Hampshire last month. (AFP)

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Updated 09 February 2024

Reuters

February 09, 2024 04:03

Donald Trump wins Nevada, Virgin Islands to close in on Republican nomination

Former US president the only major Republican candidate competing in Nevada’s caucuses
Earlier on Thursday, Trump easily won the US Virgin Islands caucuses, adding four to his delegate haul

Updated 09 February 2024

Reuters

February 09, 2024 04:03

Donald Trump won Republican presidential nominating caucuses in Nevada and the US Virgin Islands on Thursday, moving closer to becoming his party’s White House standard-bearer and a likely general election rematch with US President Joe Biden in November.
Trump, the frontrunner in his party’s nominating race, was the only major candidate competing in Nevada’s caucuses and was set to win the state’s 26 delegates to the party’s nominating convention in July after being projected the winner on Thursday night by Edison Research.
Earlier on Thursday, Trump easily won the US Virgin Islands caucuses, adding four to his delegate haul. The former US president won 182 votes, or 74 percent of the 246 votes cast there, beating his last remaining rival in the Republican race, Nikki Haley, who won 26 percent support with 64 votes.
The Nevada caucuses, organized by the Trump-friendly Nevada Republican Party, came two days after a state-run primary election, which saw a humiliating defeat for Haley.
Despite being the only major candidate on Tuesday’s Republican primary ballot, Haley was still roundly defeated after tens of thousands of Trump supporters turned out to mark their ballots with “none of these candidates,” an option which garnered 63 percent of the vote to Haley’s 30 percent.
Trump spent Thursday morning watching coverage of arguments in a case he appealed to the US Supreme Court concerning Colorado’s decision to remove him from this year’s ballot for engaging in “insurrection” relating to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
The justices appeared skeptical of Colorado’s actions, expressing concern about the precedent it could set.
Speaking to reporters afterward, Trump called the Colorado case “more election interference by the Democrats.”
He said he was preparing to leave his Mar-A-Lago estate in Florida to travel to Nevada for the caucuses.
“We expect to have a very big night,” Trump said.
Trump is close to winning the Republican nomination after back-to-back wins in Iowa and New Hampshire last month.
Haley, a former UN ambassador, is refusing to quit the nominating race, a move which has infuriated Trump. Haley is vowing to stay in the race and make a potential last stand in her home state of South Carolina, which holds a primary election on Feb. 24.
Haley has no clear path to the nomination and trails Trump badly in opinion polls in South Carolina, where she was governor for six years.
The competing Republican ballots in Nevada this week were the result of a conflict between the state Republican Party — run by Trump allies — and a 2021 state law that mandates a primary must be held.
Presidential nominating caucuses are run by state political parties, not the state, and the Nevada Republican Party decided to stick with a caucus on Thursday. It was viewed as more helpful to Trump because of his superior ground game in the Western state.
Haley chose to compete in Tuesday’s primary. Trump went for the caucus. The state party ruled that only candidates contesting Thursday’s caucus could compete for delegates.
Despite the results in Nevada having little impact on the Republican nominating contest, the state will be a hotly contested battleground because its population can swing to either party and play a significant role in November’s presidential election.
In 2020, Biden beat Trump in Nevada by 2.4 percentage points. Opinion polls show a likely rematch between Biden and Trump in the state will be close.
About 30 percent of Nevada’s population is self-described as Latino or Hispanic on the US Census, and Republicans are making some inroads with these voters nationwide.
Nevada also has many potential swing voters: There are 768,000 registered as “nonpartisan,” more than those registered as either Democrat or Republican, according to the latest state figures.

Topics: Donald Trump US

Biden pardons his son Hunter despite previous pledges not to

Updated 6 sec ago

December 02, 2024 03:46

Biden pardons his son Hunter despite previous pledges not to

In June, as his son Hunter was facing trial in the gun case in Delaware, Biden ruled out a pardon or clemency for his son in an interview with ABC News

Updated 6 sec ago

December 02, 2024 03:46

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family members.
The Democratic president had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after his convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California. The move comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House.
It caps a long-running legal saga for the president’s son, who publicly disclosed he was under federal investigation in December 2020 — a month after Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.
In June, as his son Hunter was facing trial in the gun case in Delaware, Biden ruled out a pardon or clemency for his son in an interview with ABC News.
As recently as Nov. 8, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out a pardon or clemency for the younger Biden, saying, “We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no.”

Topics: US President Joe Biden Hunter Biden

Center-right parties set to hold power in Ireland

Gerry Hutch uses a phone at a count centre following Ireland's general election, in Dublin, Ireland, December 1, 2024. (REUTERS)

Updated 02 December 2024

AFP

December 02, 2024 01:19

Center-right parties set to hold power in Ireland

To form a majority, a party or coalition requires at least 88 seats

Updated 02 December 2024

AFP

December 02, 2024 01:19

DUBLIN: The incumbent center-right parties Fianna Fail and Fine Gael looked set to retain power in Ireland as vote counting in the European Union member’s general election resumed on Sunday.
With half the seats of the new 174-seat lower chamber of parliament decided since Friday’s vote, the two parties were ahead of the main opposition party, the left-wing nationalist Sinn Fein.
Fianna Fail, led by the experienced Micheal Martin, 64, won the largest vote share with 22 percent.
Fine Gael, whose leader Simon Harris, 38, is the outgoing prime minister (taoiseach), was in second place with 21 percent, while Sinn Fein was in third (19 percent).
To form a majority, a party or coalition requires at least 88 seats. At the halfway stage Fianna Fail had secured 23 seats, Fine Gael 22, and Sinn Fein 21.
Both center-right parties have repeatedly ruled out entering a coalition with Sinn Fein.
The center-left opposition parties Labour and the Social Democrats are seen by Fine Gael and Fianna Fail as the most likely junior coalition parties, according to media reports.

The Green Party was the third member of the previous coalition but its support collapsed nationwide, with all but one seat likely to be lost.
At the last general election in 2020, the pro-Irish unity Sinn Fein — the former political wing of the paramilitary Irish Republican Army — was the most popular party but could not find willing coalition partners.
That led to weeks of horse-trading, ending up with Fine Gael, which has been in power since 2011, agreeing a deal with Fianna Fail.
During the last parliamentary term, the role of prime minister rotated between the Fianna Fail and Fine Gael leaders.
The final seat numbers, which will not be confirmed until early next week, will determine whether Harris returns as taoiseach or Martin takes the role under a similar rotation arrangement.
The new parliament is due to sit for the first time on December 18, but with coalition talks likely to drag on a new government might not be formed until the new year.
Martin told reporters in Cork that there was “very little point” in discussing government formation until seats were finalized.
“I think there’s capacity to get on,” he said, when asked if there is trust between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.
Paschal Donohoe, a top Fine Gael minister in the outgoing cabinet, said there was “a chance” a government might still be formed this year.
“But we do have a lot of work to do,” Donohoe told reporters in Dublin after his own re-election to parliament.
“Overall the center has held up in Irish politics,” he said.
The three-week campaign, launched after Harris called a snap election on November 8, was dominated by rancour over housing supply and cost-of-living crises, health, public spending and the economy.
“It’s all been an anti-climax as far as I’m concerned,” Michael O’Kane, a 76-year-old semi-retired engineer, told AFP in Dublin.
“It’s more of the same. The two parties who dominated the government last time are back again... but with the (fresh coalition partners) it might be a little bit less stable,” he said.

Topics: Ireland

Kosovo, Serbia engage in war of words after canal blast

Updated 02 December 2024

AFP

December 02, 2024 01:10

Kosovo, Serbia engage in war of words after canal blast

The blast damaged a canal supplying water to hundreds of thousands of people and cooling systems at two coal-fired power plants that generate most of Kosovo’s electricity

Updated 02 December 2024

AFP

December 02, 2024 01:10

BELGRADE: Kosovo and Serbia continued to sling allegations at each other on Sunday, just days after an explosion targeting a strategic canal in Kosovo sent tensions soaring between the long-time rivals.
During a press conference, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti accused Serbia of “copying Russian methods to threaten Kosovo and our region in general” after the explosion on Friday on the waterway near Zubin Potok, an area of Kosovo’s volatile north dominated by ethnic Serbs.
“Despite this, the effort is also destined to fail, as Kosovo is based on Western democratic values,” added Kurti.
The blast damaged a canal supplying water to hundreds of thousands of people and cooling systems at two coal-fired power plants that generate most of Kosovo’s electricity.
Kurti’s comments came just hours after Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic slammed the stream of accusations from Pristina during a live address to the country.
Vucic said the explosion and Kosovo’s accusations were “an attempt at a large and ferocious hybrid attack” on Serbia.
Belgrade’s Kosovo office said the strike gave the Pristina government an excuse to crack down on ethnic Serbs in Kosovo.
“We have no connection with it,” Vucic said of the attack.
He stopped short of directly accusing any individual or state of orchestrating the blast and said Serbian authorities had opened their own investigation.

Animosity between Serbia and Kosovo, which has an ethnic Albanian majority, has persisted since the end of a war in the late 1990s between Belgrade’s forces and ethnic Albanian separatists in what was then a province of Serbia.
Serbia has never recognized Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence.
The Kosovo prime minister said in Pristina that the attack would have had “enormous” consequences if it had been successful.
According to the premier, the attack had the potential to unleash major disruptions to Kosovo’s power and water supply for weeks.
“The goal was for most of our country in December to remain without water, in the dark, in the cold and without communication,” said Kurti.
A “temporary” repair had saved the water supply and there had been no impact on the electricity supply.
Serbian officials have fired back, saying that the accusations from Kosovo have ulterior motives.
Petar Petkovic, director of the Serbian government’s Kosovo office, said the incident had provided Kurti with a pretext to try to expel ethnic Serbs from northern Kosovo.
“What happened in the village of Varage gave Kurti an alibi to continue the attacks in the north of Kosovo... and to continue the policy of expulsion of the Serb people,” Petkovic told public broadcaster RTS.
The United States has condemned the canal attack.
“We will support efforts to find and punish those responsible and appreciate all offers of support to that effort,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller posted on X.
Earlier on Sunday, Vucic vowed to cooperate with international bodies in the blast’s wake.

The Kosovo government on Sunday also announced measures to better protect critical infrastructure, including bridges, power stations and lakes, with police and security forces conducting patrols.
It was also stepping up cooperation between governing departments and international bodies “to prevent similar attacks in future,” it said.
Kosovo authorities arrested several suspects on Saturday.
Kosovo police chief Gazmend Hoxha said “200 military uniforms, six grenade launchers, two rifles, a pistol, masks and knives” had been seized in the operation.
Fuelling tensions, Kurti’s government has for months sought to dismantle a parallel system, backed by Belgrade, that provides social services and political offices for Kosovo’s ethnic Serb minority.
Friday’s attack followed violent incidents in northern Kosovo, including one in which hand grenades were hurled at a local council building and a police station this week.
Kosovo is to hold parliamentary elections on February 9.

Topics: Kosovo Serbia

Tens of thousands rally in Georgia as PM rebuffs calls for new election

Updated 02 December 2024

AFP

December 02, 2024 00:09

Tens of thousands rally in Georgia as PM rebuffs calls for new election

On Thursday, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced Georgia would not seek accession talks with the European Union until 2028, sparking a wave of protests in the capital Tbilisi and other cities

Updated 02 December 2024

AFP

December 02, 2024 00:09

TBILISI: Tens of thousands in Georgia on Sunday took part in a fourth straight day of protests against a government decision to shelve EU membership talks, as the prime minister rebuffed calls for new elections.
The Black Sea nation has been rocked by turmoil since the governing Georgian Dream party claimed victory in October 26 parliamentary polls that the pro-European opposition said were fraudulent.
The opposition is boycotting the new parliament, while pro-EU President Salome Zurabishvili has asked the constitutional court to annul the election result, declaring the new legislature and government “illegitimate.”
Critics accuse Georgian Dream, in power for more than a decade, of having steered the country away from the EU in recent years and of moving closer to Russia, an accusation it denies.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced Georgia would not seek accession talks with the European Union until 2028, sparking a wave of protests in the capital Tbilisi and other cities.
The interior ministry has said about 150 demonstrators have been arrested in this latest protest wave, while the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association put the number at 200.
Police in some instances have chased protesters through the streets, beating them and firing rubber bullets and tear gas.
Waving European and Georgian flags, tens of thousands rallied outside parliament on Sunday evening, AFP reporters saw.
Some demonstrators tossed fireworks and stones at riot police, while others banged on the metal door blocking parliament’s entrance.
Police later deployed water cannons, but were unable to disperse the crowds.
The leader of the opposition United National Movement party, Levan Khabeishvili, told journalists that he was attacked by around 15 masked police officers attempting to detain him, but he had managed to escape with the help of protesters.
“Georgian Dream... is a (pro) Russian government, and they must go,” said demonstrator Alexandre Diasamidze, a 32-year-old bartender.
Another protest took place outside the offices of Georgia’s Public Broadcaster (GPB), widely accused of acting as a propaganda tool for the ruling party.
The broadcaster conceded to the protesters’ demand to grant Zurabishvili airtime, which it had previously denied her.
Simultaneous protests took place in cities across Georgia.
Fuelling popular anger, Kobakhidze ruled out new parliamentary elections, saying that “the formation of the new government based on the October 26 parliamentary elections has been completed.”
Earlier this week, the party nominated far-right former football international Mikheil Kavelashvili for the largely ceremonial post of president.
But Zurabishvili told AFP in an exclusive interview on Saturday that she would not step down until last month’s contested parliamentary elections are re-run.
Brussels has not recognized the outcome of the October elections and demanded an investigation into “serious electoral irregularities.”
The European Parliament has called for a re-run and for sanctions against top Georgian officials, including Kobakhidze.
Zurabishvili on Saturday said that she was “the only legitimate institution in the country,” and that “as long as there are no new elections... my mandate continues.”
Constitutional law experts, including one author of Georgia’s constitution, Vakhtang Khmaladze, told AFP that any decisions made by the new parliament — including the nomination of Kobakhidze as prime minister and the coming presidential election — would be invalid.
That is because parliament had approved its own credentials in violation of a legal requirement to await a court ruling on Zurabishvili’s bid to annul the election results, they said.
Hundreds of public servants, including from the ministries of foreign affairs, defense and education, as well as a number of judges, issued joint statements protesting Kobakhidze’s decision to postpone EU accession talks.
More than 200 Georgian diplomats criticized the move as contradicting the constitution and leading the country “into international isolation.”
A number of Georgia’s ambassadors resigned, while around 100 schools and universities suspended academic activities in protest.
The crackdown on protests has provoked international condemnation.
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania jointly agreed to impose sanctions “against those who suppressed legitimate protests in Georgia,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on social media.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on Saturday condemned “excessive force used against Georgians exercising their freedom to protest.”

Topics: Georgia EU membership Irakli Kobakhidze

Trudeau promised Trump tougher border controls, says top Canada official

Updated 01 December 2024

Reuters

December 01, 2024 23:33

Trudeau promised Trump tougher border controls, says top Canada official

Trump said on Saturday he discussed the border, trade and energy in a “very productive” meeting with Trudeau

Updated 01 December 2024

Reuters

December 01, 2024 23:33

OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised President-elect Donald Trump that Canada would toughen controls over the long undefended joint border, a senior Canadian official said on Sunday. Trudeau flew to Florida on Friday to have dinner with Trump, who has promised to slap tariffs on Canadian imports unless Ottawa prevents migrants and drugs from crossing the frontier.
Canada sends 75 percent of all goods and services exports to the United States and tariffs would badly hurt the economy.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who sat at the head table with Trudeau and Trump, said the two men discussed additional security measures Canada would be introducing.
“We’re going to look to procure, for example, additional drones, additional police helicopters, we’re going to redeploy personnel ... we believe that the border is secure,” he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
“It’s important, I think, to show Canadians and the Americans that we’re stepping up in a visible and muscular way, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” he added, promising more details in the days and weeks to come.
Canada, he said, would continue to make the case that tariffs would damage both nations, given how interconnected the two economies are.
“I’m confident that the Americans will understand that it’s not in their interest ... to proceed in this way,” he said, describing the dinner meeting as very warm and cordial.
Trump said on Saturday he discussed the border, trade and energy in a “very productive” meeting with Trudeau.
The friendly nature of the dinner contrasts with previous exchanges between the two men.
Trump called Trudeau “a far left lunatic” in 2022 for requiring truck drivers crossing the border to be vaccinated against COVID. In June 2018, Trump walked out of a G7 summit in Quebec and blasted Trudeau for being “very dishonest and weak.”
At the end of the dinner, LeBlanc said, Trump walked Trudeau to his car and said “Keep in touch. Call me anytime. Talk soon.”

Topics: Justin Trudeau Donald Trump US-Canada

Donald Trump wins Nevada, Virgin Islands to close in on Republican nomination

Donald Trump wins Nevada, Virgin Islands to close in on Republican nomination

Trump wins Iowa caucuses in crucial victory at the outset of the Republican presidential campaign

Nikki Haley vows to stay in Republican presidential race following ‘embarrassing’ Nevada defeat

Biden pardons his son Hunter despite previous pledges not to

Biden pardons his son Hunter despite previous pledges not to

Hunter Biden pleads guilty to tax evasion charges

President Biden’s son Hunter convicted on all charges in gun case

Center-right parties set to hold power in Ireland

Center-right parties set to hold power in Ireland

Ireland headed for coalition government following parliamentary election, exit poll suggests

Ireland votes in closely fought general election

Kosovo, Serbia engage in war of words after canal blast

Kosovo, Serbia engage in war of words after canal blast

Kosovo races to contain blast impact, Serbia denies involvement

Former Kosovo rebel commander ordered to pay victims

Tens of thousands rally in Georgia as PM rebuffs calls for new election

Tens of thousands rally in Georgia as PM rebuffs calls for new election

Georgian president declares parliament illegitimate amid pro-EU protests

Georgia police say 107 people arrested at pro-EU protest

Trudeau promised Trump tougher border controls, says top Canada official

Trudeau promised Trump tougher border controls, says top Canada official

Trudeau in Florida to meet Trump as tariff threats loom

Trudeau set to survive second confidence motion in Canada parliament

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Donald Trump wins Nevada, Virgin Islands to close in on Republican nomination

Donald Trump wins Nevada, Virgin Islands to close in on Republican nomination

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Biden pardons his son Hunter despite previous pledges not to

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