Australian trust in US fell, but security alliance vital, says poll
Australia has boosted its military cooperation with alliance partner the United States, including in the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal
Updated 02 June 2024
Reuters
SYDNEY: An annual poll of how Australians view foreign relations showed trust in the United States has dipped, although most (83 percent) saw the US alliance as important for security, and 63 percent said it makes Australia safer from attack or pressure from China.
Cyberattacks from other nations were seen as the top threat (70 percent), while concern over potential conflicts over Taiwan (59 percent) and the South China Sea (57 percent) also loomed large.
Australia has boosted its military cooperation with alliance partner the United States, including in the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal, as government concern over the risk of conflict in the Indo-Pacific region rises.
The Lowy Institute poll, conducted annually by the foreign policy think-tank for 20 years, found Australians rank Japan highest of all countries in terms of trust (87 percent).
Trust in China to act responsibly in the world was low at 17 percent, which Lowy said was a sharp drop from 52 percent six years ago.
Levels of trust toward the United States dropped five points to 56 percent from a year ago.
“Australians are far less trusting of China and they are worried about the risk of war in our region. One constant is that they continue to see the alliance with the United States as important to Australia’s security,” said Lowy Institute executive director Michael Fullilove.
Most (83 percent) of 2000 people surveyed in March said the US alliance was important for Australia’s security.
Sixty-three percent said the US alliance makes Australia safer from attack or pressure from China, although three-quarters also believe the alliance makes it more likely Australia will be drawn into a future war in Asia.
Seventy-one percent said China would become a military threat to Australia in the next 20 years.
Asked about the 2024 US presidential election, 68 percent said they would prefer to see Joe Biden re-elected, compared with a third (29 percent) preferring Donald Trump.
French prosecutors demand Marine Le Pen be barred from office in fake jobs trial
Updated 50 sec ago
The prosecution made the request in a Paris court where Le Pen, 56, and other defendants from her National Rally party are on trial accused of creating fake jobs at the EU parliament They deny the charges
PARIS: French prosecutors in the embezzlement trial of France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Wednesday demanded she get a jail sentence and a ban from public office if convicted, potentially barring her from running for president in 2027. The prosecution made the request in a Paris court where Le Pen, 56, and other defendants from her National Rally party are on trial accused of creating fake jobs at the EU parliament. They deny the charges. If granted by the court, the ban would exclude her from running in France’s 2027 presidential election, in what would be her fourth attempt to become head of state. The National Rally, like other far-right parties around Europe, is riding high following a strong performance in European elections in June. The prosecution demanded all two dozen defendants be banned from public office for five years, effective immediately after the verdict, even if the defense team appeals. “The law applies to all,” prosecutor Nicolas Barret told the court, as Le Pen sat in the front row of the defendants’ benches. He added that the ban would “prohibit the defendants from running in future local or national elections.” He demanded a five-year jail sentence for Le Pen, calling for at least two years of that to be a “convertible” custodial sentence, meaning there would be a possibility of partial release. The prosecution also demanded the RN be fined two million euros ($2.1 million) and Le Pen herself 300,000 euros. Le Pen promptly denounced the prosecutors’ motion as excessive, branding it an “outrage” and accusing prosecutors of trying to “ruin the (RN) party.” “I think the prosecutors’ wish is to deprive the French people of the ability to vote for who they want,” she said. The alleged fake jobs system, which was first flagged in 2015, covers parliamentary assistant contracts between 2004 and 2016. Prosecutors say the assistants worked exclusively for the party outside parliament. Addressing the trial last month, Le Pen said she was innocent. “I have absolutely no sense of having committed the slightest irregularity, or the slightest illegal act,” she told the court. The RN’s chairman Jordan Bardella called the prosecutors’ demands on Wednesday an “assault on democracy.” “The prosecution is not acting justly,” he wrote on X. “It is seeking to persecute and take revenge on Marine Le Pen.” Prosecutor Louise Neyton told the court earlier in Wednesday’s hearing her team was “not here to persecute” but as the result of a “long judicial investigation.” She and Barret presented evidence that they said showed an “organized system” of embezzlement by which the party had aimed to “save money.” Questioned last month about how exactly she selected her presumed parliamentary aides, and what their tasks were, Le Pen gave general answers, or said she could not remember. If convicted, Le Pen would be able to lodge an appeal. European Parliament authorities said the legislature had lost three million euros ($3.4 million) through the jobs scheme. The RN has paid back one million euros, which it insists is not an admission of guilt.
Greek, Turkish coast guards to boost cooperation against migrant smuggling
Updated 28 min 26 sec ago
AP
ATHENS: Senior Greek and Turkish coast guard officials have agreed to boost cooperation in restricting one of the main illegal migration routes into Europe, authorities said on Wednesday.
A Greek coast guard statement said Tuesday’s meeting on Greece’s eastern Aegean Sea island of Chios was the first of its kind in five years. It’s scheduled to be followed up in Turkiye in February 2025.
The talks came amid a gradual improvement in relations between the two historic regional rivals, following a low point in 2020 that saw a spike in military tensions over offshore gas exploration rights.
The statement said the coast guard officials agreed to increase cooperation in the field as well as in exchanging intelligence on organized migrant smuggling groups.
Every year, thousands of migrants risk the short but dangerous sea journey from Turkiye’s western coast to the eastern Greek islands, mostly in small, unseaworthy boats. Coming from the Middle East, Africa or Asia, they seek a better life in the European Union.
Greece’s minister for merchant marine, Christos Stylianides, said the Chios meeting “was held in an exceptional climate and we agreed on specific practical, operational conclusions” on limiting migratory flows and tackling smugglers.
According to UN data, more than 52,000 people have entered Greece illegally so far this year, the vast majority by sea from Turkiye. The rise in numbers is largely due to a surge in people making the longer and more hazardous sea crossing from Libya, with nearly 4,000 arrivals so far from the North African country. Most head for the southern Greek island of Crete, off which on Tuesday 19 people were picked up from a small boat by a passing cargo ship.
The Greek coast guard said that one of people on the boat was arrested on suspicion of belonging to a migrant smuggling ring that had charged up to $6,500 for a berth on the vessel. It had set off from Tobruk in eastern Libya, and was at sea for two days.
Trump makes a victor’s return to Washington and pledges a ‘smooth’ transition of power from Biden
Sitting in front of a crackling fire in the Oval Office, the former rivals shook hands as reporters looked on
Biden called Trump “Mr. President-elect and former president” before settling on “Donald”
Updated 13 November 2024
AP
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump made a victor’s return to Washington on Wednesday, visiting the White House for a nearly two-hour meeting with President Joe Biden and committing to a straightforward transition of power as the president-elect moves quickly to build out his new administration.
Sitting in front of a crackling fire in the Oval Office, the former rivals shook hands as reporters looked on. Biden called Trump “Mr. President-elect and former president” before settling on “Donald.”
“Congratulations,” the Democrat told the Republican. “I look forward to having, like they said, a smooth transition,” Biden said. “Welcome. Welcome back.”
Trump replied, “Thank you very much,” saying that “politics is tough. And it’s, in many cases, not a very nice world. But it is a nice world today, and I appreciate it very much.”
He said the transition between the outgoing and incoming administrations “will be as smooth as it can get and I very much appreciate that, Joe.” Trump, who has long disputed his 2020 election loss to Biden, did not invite Biden to the White House during the transition four years ago.
The scene put in stark relief the remarkable political rebound for Trump, who departed Washington in January 2021 as a diminished, politically defeated leader after helping incite a mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol. Today, he is preparing to come back to power with what he and his GOP allies see as a mandate for governance.
Neither he nor Biden answered questions shouted by the media after their brief remarks. At one point, Biden looked at Trump, who moved his head to the side and gave a small shrug but did not respond.
After his election win in 2016, Trump met with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office and called it “a great honor.” But he soon was back to heaping insults on his predecessor.
While refraining Wednesday from the bombast seen as a candidate, Trump looked at ease in the Oval Office, unlike in 2016, when he appeared nervous and subdued when meeting with Obama eight years ago.
Trump left the White House after his session with Biden without addressing the large contingent of reporters on the White House driveway waiting outside the West Wing in case he did make an appearance.
Each was joined by his chief of staff for the private meeting that is a traditional part of the peaceful handoff of power, but a ritual that Trump declined to participate in four years ago after losing to Biden.
First lady Jill Biden greeted Trump upon his arrival at the White House and gave him a handwritten letter of congratulations for his wife, Melania Trump, who did not make the trip to Washington. The letter also expressed the first lady’s team’s readiness to assist with the transition.
As Trump met with Biden, Trump sent out a fundraising email to supporters saying that he “is inside the White House right now conducting a very important meeting.”
Trump had flown from Florida in the morning, joining up with billionaire Elon Musk for a morning session with House Republicans. That discussion came as Trump prepares for a potentially unified Republican government and sweep of power.
Back in Washington for the first time since his election victory, Trump told the GOP lawmakers, “It’s nice to win.”
He received a standing ovation from House GOP members, many of whom took cellphone videos of Trump as ran through their party’s victories up and down the ballot, in what would be, under the constitutional limits, his final presidential election.
“I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say he’s good we got to figure something else,” Trump said to laughter from the lawmakers.
The Constitution’s 22nd Amendment prevents presidents from running for a third term.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, said of Trump’s arrival, “He is the comeback king.”
“We owe him a great debt of gratitude,” Johnson said.
Trump’s reemergence comes amid Republican congressional leadership elections — with the potential for the president-elect to place his imprint on the outcome. He endorsed Johnson’s return to the speaker’s office with the president-elect saying he is with Johnson all the way, according to a person familiar with the remarks but not authorized to publicly discuss the private meeting.
Musk joining Trump on the return to Washington comes after the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has been spending much of his time at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida estate, and participating in discussions as the incoming Trump administration prepares to transition from Biden’s.
Trump has named Musk to a government efficiency advisory role in his incoming administration. Some close to Trump and his team now see Musk as the second most influential figure in Trump’s immediate orbit, after Susie Wiles, the campaign manager who is Trump’s incoming chief of staff.
Trump has continued to lie about widespread voter fraud that did not occur. In addition to not inviting then-president-elect Biden to the White House, Trump left Washington without attending the inauguration. It was the first time that had happened since Andrew Johnson skipped Ulysses S. Grant’s swearing-in 155 years ago.
Biden insists that he’ll do everything he can to make the transition to the next Trump administration go smoothly. That’s despite having spent more than a year campaigning for reelection and decrying Trump as a threat to democracy and the nation’s core values. Biden then bowed out of the race in July and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him.
Traditionally, as the outgoing and incoming presidents meet in the West Wing, the first lady hosts her successor upstairs in the residence, But her office said Melania Trump wasn’t attending, saying in a statement that “her husband’s return to the Oval Office to commence the transition process is encouraging, and she wishes him great success.”
When Trump left Washington in 2021, even some top Republicans had begun to decry his role in helping incite the mob that stormed the Capitol mere weeks earlier. But his win in last week’s election completes a political comeback that has seen Trump once again become the unchallenged head of the GOP.
Wednesday’s trip was not the first time Trump has returned to the Capitol area since the end of his first term, though. Congressional Republicans hosted Trump over the summer, as Trump was again solidifying his dominance over the party.
In last week’s election, Republicans wrested the Senate majority from Democrats and are on the cusp of keeping control of the House, are in the midst of their own leadership elections happening behind closed doors Wednesday. Johnson has pulled ever-closer to Trump as he worked to keep his majority — and his own job with the gavel.
Trump left Washington without visiting his party’s senators. But, while he was in town, they chose Sen. John Thune of South Dakota in a three-way race to replace outgoing GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Trump’s allies were pushing GOP senators to vote for Sen. Rick Scott of Florida.
Kyiv ‘cautiously optimistic’ after discussing deep strikes in Russia with US
Kyiv has long been lobbying for Western allies to allow long-range attacks on military targets inside Russia
“We discussed issues of long-range strikes and Euro-Atlantic integration. And here we also are cautiously optimistic,” Sybiha said
Updated 13 November 2024
Reuters
BRUSSELS: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Wednesday he was “cautiously optimistic” after discussing with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken the possibility of conducting deep strikes on Russia as well as Euro-Atlantic integration.
Kyiv has long been lobbying for Western allies to allow long-range attacks on military targets inside Russia, while also pressing for an invitation to join the NATO alliance.
Allies including the United States have been unwilling to permit long-range attacks for fear of further escalating the conflict, and some are opposed to inviting Ukraine to join NATO.
“We discussed issues of long-range strikes and Euro-Atlantic integration. And here we also are cautiously optimistic,” Sybiha said in televised comments.
His talks with Blinken in Brussels come at a turbulent time, just one week after Donald Trump won the US presidential election. Trump has long criticized the scale of US financial and military aid to Ukraine and has vowed to end the war quickly, without explaining how.
Ukraine and its European allies fear this would mean accepting peace on Russia’s terms, which would entail large territorial losses and rule out Ukraine ever joining NATO.
The outgoing Biden administration has pledged to promptly deliver what remains of the promised aid packages before Trump’s return to the White House in January.
Sybiha said his talks in Brussels had also touched on military aid.
“We have a clear picture — a clear timeframe, clear volumes – of what will be delivered to Ukraine by the end of the year. This helps us strategically to plan our actions on the battlefield,” he said.
The assistance, he added, would include weapons and funds for arms production deals.
Russian chef and war critic found dead in Belgrade
The death of Alexei Zimin, who has been based in London for years, marks the latest passing of a Russian expatriate critical of the Kremlin’s war
His body was found late on Tuesday in a flat that he was renting in Belgrade while on a visit to promote his latest book, “Anglomania“
Updated 13 November 2024
AFP
BELGRADE: A famed Russian chef who has been highly critical of Moscow’s war in Ukraine has been found dead while on a visit to Serbia’s capital, according to several sources on Wednesday.
The death of Alexei Zimin, who has been based in London for years, marks the latest passing of a Russian expatriate critical of the Kremlin’s war.
Zimin co-founded the ZIMA restaurant in London, served as senior contributor in numerous magazines and has co-authored several books, according to a ZIMA Instagram post.
His body was found late on Tuesday in a flat that he was renting in Belgrade while on a visit to promote his latest book, “Anglomania,” a source close to the investigation told AFP.
Prosecutors told the BBC that the flat was locked from the inside and the death did not appear to be suspicious, but that an autopsy was due to take place.
Born in Russia in 1971, Zimin had opened several restaurants in Moscow before leaving after Russia occupied Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he posted anti-war messages and stopped his Saturday cooking show on a pro-Kremlin television station.
“Throughout his remarkable life, Alexei accomplished a lot — he served as deputy editor-in-chief of Afisha magazine, founded Afisha.Food, also worked as editor-in-chief of Afisha World, GQ, and Gourmet,” his London restaurant ZIMA said in an Instagram post on Wednesday.
“He hosted several culinary shows, authored numerous books, and launched multiple successful restaurants,” it said.
“To us, Alexei was not only a colleague but also a friend, a close companion with whom we shared many experiences — good, kind, and at times sorrowful.”
