Maverick left-winger Galloway, an advocate of a free Palestine, wins in English town/node/2469231/world
Maverick left-winger Galloway, an advocate of a free Palestine, wins in English town
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Candidate George Galloway smiles amid vote counting during the Rochdale Parliamentary by-election at a polling station near Manchester, Britain, on March 1, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Election leaflets encouraging people to vote for candidate George Galloway are seen in his campaign office ahead of the upcoming Parliamentary by-election in Rochdale, Britain, on Feb. 26, 2024. (REUTERS)
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An election board encourages people to vote for candidate George Galloway ahead of the upcoming Parliamentary by-election in Rochdale, Britain, on Feb. 26, 2024. (REUTERS)
Maverick left-winger Galloway, an advocate of a free Palestine, wins in English town
The maverick won over many of Rochdale’s Muslim community by attacking both Labour and Britain’s governing Conservatives for supporting Israel in its war against Hamas
His victory underlines the divisions in Britain over the Israel-Hamas war, which is in its fifth month and has brought protesters onto British streets in support of both sides
Updated 01 March 2024
Reuters
LONDON: Veteran left-wing political maverick George Galloway won a vote to become the new lawmaker for the English town of Rochdale on Friday, vowing to be a thorn in the side for the opposition Labour Party before a national election it is tipped to win.
After running a pro-Palestinian campaign, Galloway won over many of Rochdale’s Muslim community by attacking both Labour and Britain’s governing Conservatives for supporting Israel in its war against Hamas, making a foreign conflict the major issue — unusual in a by-election when local concerns usually dominate.
Elected to parliament for the seventh time, Galloway will be an irritant to Labour, a party he once belonged to before being ejected for criticizing then-prime minister Tony Blair over the Iraq War. He even went so far as saying the assassination of Blair would be “morally justified” for Britain’s involvement.
His victory underlines the divisions in Britain over the Israel-Hamas war, which is in its fifth month and has brought protesters onto British streets in support of both sides.
More than 30,000 people have been killed during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, Palestinian health authorities say. This follows an attack by Hamas militants in southern Israel on Oct. 7, when Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 254 taken hostage.
British lawmakers have faced threats to do more to bring an end to the fighting in Gaza.
With the national election later this year, Galloway’s return to parliament will be short-lived but explosive. He has accused Labour leader Keir Starmer of being in the “pocket of Israel.”
Galloway won 12,335 votes compared with 6,638 for second-placed David Tully, an independent candidate. The former Labour candidate, Azhar Ali, came fourth after the opposition party pulled its support from him after he was recorded espousing conspiracy theories about Israel.
“(Labour leader) Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza,” Galloway said in his victory speech.
Turnout was low at 39.7 percent.
It will be the first time Galloway’s left-wing Workers Party of Britain has been represented in parliament.
For some in Rochdale, a former cotton mill town near to Manchester, the so-called by-election, triggered by the death of Labour lawmaker Tony Lloyd last month, had failed to offer them a clear choice of someone determined to help their town, ranked in the top 5 percent most deprived English local authorities in 2019.
Galloway also campaigned to reinstate maternity services in Rochdale but it was his message on Gaza that rang loudest.
He has vowed to speak out on Gaza in parliament, challenging Labour, which initially gave full backing to Israel following the Oct. 7 attack. The party has since shifted its position to call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
It is a headache Starmer could do without. He has struggled to maintain party unity over its position on Gaza. He avoided having to put the divisions on show last week when his party was allowed to put forward its own stance on a ceasefire.
Galloway, a colorful figure who became well known after he impersonated a cat on a reality television show in 2006, will try to exploit Labour’s divisions.
“I will go into the House of Commons like a tornado... if you elect me. (Prime Minister) Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer will be terrified as they see me coming through the doors,” he told voters, according to the Times newspaper.
DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
Since the start of the year, DR Congo has recorded more than 30,000 mpox cases, with 988 deaths
Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba only "people most at risk" are to be vaccinated
Updated 06 October 2024
AFP
GOMA, DR Congo: The Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicentre of an mpox epidemic, launched a vaccination campaign against the virus on Saturday in the eastern city of Goma, AFP journalists said.
The launch, initially scheduled for last Wednesday, was delayed by three days amid logistical difficulties delivering the vaccines across the sprawling, infrastructure-poor central African country.
The first vaccines were administered to hospital staff, with the program due to target the general population from Monday in the east of the country, where the current outbreak started a year ago.
"As a doctor, I'm on the front line and in constant contact with those who are sick... I want to protect myself," the first to be vaccinated, Jeannine Muhavi, told journalists.
Local health officials and NGO workers had set up large tents to administer the vaccines, unfurling banners with the message: "mpox exists."
Romain Muboyayi, chief of staff at the health ministry, said Saturday in Goma the country would lead a "full-out combat" against this "treatable and avoidable disease".
In a posting on X, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the vaccination campaign adds "a crucial measure to complement ongoing outbreak control efforts and protect lives."
The DRC has so far received 265,000 vaccine doses, including donations from the United States and European Union.
But it is still waiting for millions more promised doses to arrive from France, Japan and the United States.
Since the start of the year, the country, one of the world's poorest, has recorded more than 30,000 mpox cases, with 988 deaths, according to Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba.
Seventy percent of the deaths have been children under five.
"It will not be a mass vaccination campaign... the strategy is to vaccinate people most at risk," Kamba told a press conference Friday in the capital, Kinshasa.
"As you can imagine, in a country of 100 million people, we're not going to solve the problem with 265,000 doses."
He said the aim was to target priority groups, such as those with existing health conditions and medical workers.
The DRC's current vaccine doses, manufactured by Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic, are only intended for adults.
The DRC has been in talks to secure further supplies from Japan, where another mpox vaccine has been approved for use on both adults and children.
Japan has promised to send three million doses, Kamba said.
President Joe Biden said last month the United States plans to donate one million doses of the mpox vaccine to African nations.
"We are ready to commit $500 million to help African countries prevent and respond to mpox and to donate one million doses of mpox vaccine, now," he told the UN General Assembly in New York.
The WHO said Friday it had approved the use of the first diagnostic test for mpox.
The test allows for the detection of the virus from swabs taken from human lesions.
Kamba said the WHO had pledged around 4,500 tests for the DRC, but did not give an arrival date.
Scientists discovered the disease, formerly called monkeypox, in 1958 in Denmark among monkeys kept for research.
It was first spotted in humans in 1970 in what is now the DRC.
The disease can cause painful rashes, fever, aches and lethargy, and in some cases can be deadly.
Mpox has been detected in 16 African countries so far this year, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
The virus gained international prominence in May 2022, when a strain known as clade 2b spread around the world, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men.
In July 2022, the WHO declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, its highest level of alarm.
The virus is currently circulating in 16 African countries, according to Africa CDC.
UN chief calls for end to ‘shocking violence’ on Hamas attack anniversary
Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry
Hamas militants abducted 251 people on October 7, 97 of whom are still captive in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military has said are dead
Updated 06 October 2024
AFP
UNITED NATIONS, United States: The UN secretary-general denounced Hamas and called for an immediate end to the “shocking violence and bloodshed” in Gaza and Lebanon in a statement Saturday ahead of the anniversary of the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack.
Monday marks one year since the devastating assault on Israel that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, with Lebanon now also pulled into the fray and world leaders warning of a potential all-out regional crisis.
“This is a day for the global community to repeat in the loudest voice our utter condemnation of the abhorrent acts of Hamas, including the taking of hostages,” UN chief Antonio Guterres said in an anniversary message released Saturday evening.
While demanding the hostages’ “immediate and unconditional release,” Guterres also implored Hamas to allow the hostages to be visited by Red Cross personnel.
Hamas militants abducted 251 people on October 7, 97 of whom are still captive in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military has said are dead.
Guterres additionally voiced concern over the conflict spreading to Lebanon, where Israel in recent days has pounded the Hamas-allied group Hezbollah, killing over a thousand people and forcing more than a million to flee their homes.
“The war that has followed the terrible attacks of one year ago continues to shatter lives and inflict profound human suffering for Palestinians in Gaza, and now the people of Lebanon,” Guterres said.
The October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive on Gaza has so far killed at least 41,825 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory. The UN has said those figures are reliable.
“Since October 7th, a wave of shocking violence and bloodshed has erupted,” said Guterres.
“It is time for the release of the hostages,” he said. “Time to silence the guns. Time to stop the suffering that has engulfed the region. Time for peace, international law and justice.”
Russian prosecutors seek 7-year sentence for US man accused of fighting for Ukraine
In Russia, participating in mercenary activities is a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment for a term of 7-15 years
Updated 06 October 2024
AP
MOSCOW: Russian prosecutors asked for a seven-year sentence in the trial of a US citizen accused of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine against Russia, Russian news agencies reported Saturday.
Prosecutors asked the court to take into account 72-year-old Stephen Hubbard’s age and said he has admitted guilt, according to Interfax. They asked that Hubbard serve the sentence in a maximum-security penal colony.
In Russia, participating in mercenary activities is a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment for a term of 7-15 years.
Prosecutors accuse Hubbard of signing a contract with the Ukrainian military after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, for which he allegedly was to receive at least $1,000.
He reportedly underwent training, received a personal firearm and fought in the Ukrainian military as a mercenary until April 2022, when he was detained by the Russian military.
The US Embassy in Moscow told The Associated Press it was “aware of the reports of the arrest of an American citizen,” but said it could not comment any further “due to privacy restrictions”.
Russian courts convict more than 99 percent of defendants, and prosecutors can appeal sentences that they regard as too lenient.
Arrests of Americans have become increasingly common in Russia in recent years. Concern has risen that Russia could be targeting US nationals for arrest to later use as bargaining chips in talks to bring back Russians convicted of crimes in the US and Europe.
The US and Russia in August completed their largest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history, a deal involving 24 people, many months of negotiations and concessions from other European countries who released Russians in their custody as part of the exchange. Several US citizens remain behind bars in Russia following the swap.
Trump returns to site of Pennsylvania assassination attempt for a major swing-state rally
Musician Lee Greenwood appeared on stage and serenaded him with “God Bless the USA”
Billionaire Elon Musk plays starring role as he joins Trump's campaign rally
Updated 06 October 2024
AP
BUTLER, Pennsylvania: Donald Trump returned on Saturday to the Pennsylvania fairgrounds where he was nearly assassinated in July, holding a sprawling rally before a massive crowd in a critical swing state Trump hopes to return to his column in November’s election.
The former president and Republican nominee picked up where he left off in July when a gunman tried to assassinate him and struck his ear. He began his speech with, “As I was saying,” and gestured toward an immigration chart he was looking at when the gunfire began.
The Trump campaign worked to maximize the event’s headline-grabbing potential with just 30 days to go and voting already underway in some states in his race against his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Musician Lee Greenwood appeared on stage and serenaded him with “God Bless the USA,” frequently played at his rallies, and billionaire Elon Musk spoke for the first time at a Trump rally.
“We fought together. We have endured together. We have pushed onward together,” Trump said. “And right here in Pennsylvania, we have bled together. We’ve bled.”
Trump needs to drive up voter turnout in conservative strongholds like Butler County, an overwhelmingly white, rural-suburban community, if he wants to win Pennsylvania in November. Harris, too, has targeted her campaign efforts at Pennsylvania, rallying there repeatedly as part of her aggressive outreach in critical swing states.
At the beginning of the rally, Trump asked for a moment of silence to honor firefighter Corey Comperatore, who died as he shielded family members from gunfire. Opera singer Christopher Macchio sang “Ave Maria” after a bell rung at the same time that gunfire began on July 13.
Standing behind protective glass that now encases the stage at his outdoor rallies, Trump called the would-be assassin “a vicious monster” and said he did not succeed “by the hand of providence and the grace of God.” There was a very visible heightened security presence, with armed law enforcers in camouflage uniforms on roofs.
One of the most anticipated guests of the evening was Musk, who climbed onto the stage on Saturday jumping and pumping his fists in the air after Trump introduced him as a “great gentleman” and said he “saved free speech.”
“President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America,” said Musk, who endorsed Trump after the assassination attempt. “This is a must-win situation.”
Musk, who bought Twitter and rebranded it as X and has embraced conservative politics, met with Trump and Vance backstage, donning a black “Make America Great Again” hat. A billboard on the way into the rally said, “IN MUSK WE TRUST,” and showed his photo.
A fired up Elon Musk jumps on the stage as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show on Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (AP)
Earlier on Saturday, Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, got on stage and reflected on the events that day while severely criticizing Democrats for calling Trump “a threat to democracy,” saying that kind of language is “inflammatory.”
“You heard the shots. You saw the blood. We all feared the worst. But you knew everything would be OK when President Trump raised his fist high in the air and shouted, ‘Fight, fight!’” said Vance, who was chosen as his vice presidential nominee less than two days later. “Now I believe it as sure as I’m standing here today that what happened was a true miracle.”
Crowds were lined up as the sun rose Saturday. A massive crowd packed bleachers, folding chairs and the expansive field stretching to the venue’s edges. Area hotels, motels and inns were said to be full and some rallygoers arrived Friday.
Much of the crowd waited several hours for Trump. About half an hour into his speech, Trump paused his speech for more than five minutes after an attendee had a medical issue and needed a medic.
Trump used the event to remember Comperatore, the volunteer firefighter struck and killed at the July 13 rally, and to recognize the two other rallygoers injured, David Dutch and James Copenhaver. They and Trump were struck when 20-year-old shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, opened fire from an unsecured rooftop nearby before he was fatally shot by sharpshooters.
The building from which Crooks fired was completely obscured by tractor-trailers, a large grassy perimeter and a fence. Most bleachers were now at the sides, rather than behind Trump.
How Crooks managed to outmaneuver law enforcement that day and scramble on top of a building within easy shooting distance of the ex-president is among many questions that remain unanswered about the worst Secret Service security failure in decades. Another is his motive.
Butler County District Attorney Rich Goldinger told WPXI-TV this week that “everyone is doubling down on their efforts to make sure this is done safely and correctly.”
Mike Slupe, the county sheriff, told the station he estimates the Secret Service, was deploying ”quadruple the assets” it did in July. The agency has undergone a painful reckoning over its handling of two attempts on Trump’s life.
Butler County, on the western edge of a coveted presidential swing state, is a Trump stronghold. He won the county with about 66 percent of the vote in both 2016 and 2020. About 57 percent of the county’s 139,000 registered voters are Republicans, compared with about 29 percent who are Democrats and 14 percent something else.
Chris Harpster, 30, of Tyrone, Pennsylvania, was accompanied by his girlfriend on Saturday as he returned to the scene. Of July 13, he said, “I was afraid” — as were his parents, watching at home, who texted him immediately after the shots rang out.
Heightened security measures were making him feel better now, as well as the presence of his girlfriend, a first-time rallygoer. Harpster said he will be a third-time Trump voter in November, based on the Republican nominee’s stances on immigration, guns, abortion and energy. Harpster said he hopes Pennsylvania will go Republican, particularly out of concern over gas and oil industry jobs.
Other townspeople were divided over the value of Trump’s return. Heidi Priest, a Butler resident who started a Facebook group supporting Harris, said Trump’s last visit fanned political tensions in the city.
“Whenever you see people supporting him and getting excited about him being here, it scares the people who don’t want to see him reelected,” she said.
Terri Palmquist came from Bakersfield, California, and said her 18-year-old daughter tried to dissuade her. “I just figure we need to not let fear control us. That’s what the other side wants is fear. If fear controls us, we lose,” she said.
She said she was not worried about her own safety.
“Honesty, I believe God’s got Trump, for some reason. I do. So we’re rooting for him.”
Immigration is not a ‘bad’ thing, France’s Macron says
“Is immigration bad? The answer is no. It depends,” Macron told broadcaster France Inter
Macron hosted dozens of leaders of French-speaking countries for the “Francophonie” summit, the first time the event has been held in France for 33 years
Updated 05 October 2024
AFP
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday that immigration was not necessarily a “bad” thing, in a thinly veiled riposte to the country’s hard-line interior minister who has vowed to crack down on migration.
“Is immigration bad? The answer is no. It depends,” Macron told broadcaster France Inter.
“Is immigration from Africa bad in general? In truth, not totally,” Macron said in remarks recorded earlier this week and broadcast on Saturday.
On Friday and Saturday, Macron hosted dozens of leaders of French-speaking countries for the “Francophonie” summit, the first time the event has been held in France for 33 years. He hopes the gathering will help boost French influence in a world beset by crises, in particular Africa.
The African continent receives more from immigrants in Europe sending remittances home than from European public development aid, Macron said. “Shame on us,” he said.
“All this is much more complex than people want to admit,” Macron added, pointing to the “ethical and political tension” on the issue.
Macron also said foreign-born French people helped make France stronger.
“There are millions of dual nationals in our country. There are at least as many French people of immigrant origin,” Macron added.
“This is our wealth. And it is a strength,” he added.
“The difficulty at the moment is how we manage to fight against human traffickers, these illegal immigration networks,” he said.
France’s new right-wing government has pledged to clamp down on immigration and fight people traffickers.
A two-year-old child was crushed to death and several adult migrants died in two separate tragedies overnight Friday to Saturday when their overcrowded boats tried to cross the Channel to Britain, French officials said.
France’s new interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, has vowed new immigration rules to “protect the French,” adding that he did not think that immigration presented “an opportunity” for France.
Retailleau also said that “the rule of law is neither intangible nor sacred.”
His appointment is emblematic of the rightward shift of the government under new Prime Minister Michel Barnier following this summer’s legislative elections that resulted in a hung parliament.
