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US, Canada warships pass through Taiwan Strait

US, Canada warships pass through Taiwan Strait
US and a Canadian warship have passed through waters separating Taiwan and China, a week after Beijing held large-scale military drills in the sensitive passage. (AFP)
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Updated 27 min 16 sec ago
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US, Canada warships pass through Taiwan Strait

US, Canada warships pass through Taiwan Strait
  • US and its allies regularly cross through the 180-kilometer (112-mile) Taiwan Strait to reinforce its status
Updated 27 min 16 sec ago
AFP
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TAIPEI: A US and a Canadian warship have passed through waters separating Taiwan and China, a week after Beijing held large-scale military drills in the sensitive passage.
The United States and its allies regularly cross through the 180-kilometer (112-mile) Taiwan Strait to reinforce its status as an international waterway, angering Beijing.
China’s Communist Party has never ruled Taiwan, but it claims the island as part of its territory and has said it will not renounce the use of force to bring it under its control.
“The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG 76) and Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigate HMCS Vancouver (FFH 331) conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit on Oct. 20,” the US Navy’s 7th Fleet said in a statement.
“Higgins and Vancouver’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrated the United States’ and Canada’s commitment to upholding freedom of navigation for all nations as a principle.”
China said Monday that the US and Canadian actions had disrupted “peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
“The PLA Eastern Theater Command organized naval and air forces to monitor and remain on alert throughout the transit, handling the situation according to laws and regulations,” military spokesperson Captain Li Xi said in a statement.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said Monday the US and Canadian ships traveled “from south to north” of the strait and the situation in the surrounding sea and airspace “remained normal.”
Beijing sent a record number of military aircraft as well as warships and coast guard vessels to encircle Taiwan on October 14 in the fourth round of major drills in just over two years.
Taiwan deployed “appropriate forces” and put outlying islands on heightened alert in response to the exercises, which Beijing said were a “stern warning to the separatist acts of ‘Taiwan Independence’ forces.”
Beijing has ramped up military pressure on Taipei in recent years, deploying on a near-daily basis warplanes and other military aircraft as well as ships around the island.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said Monday it had detected 14 Chinese military aircraft and 12 navy vessels in the 24 hours to 6:00 am.

Topics: Canada United States of America (USA) Taiwan Strait

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Toll from attack in India-controlled Kashmir rises to seven – reports

Toll from attack in India-controlled Kashmir rises to seven – reports
Updated 11 min 40 sec ago
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Toll from attack in India-controlled Kashmir rises to seven – reports

Toll from attack in India-controlled Kashmir rises to seven – reports
  • Muslim-majority Kashmir, home to long-running insurgency, has been divided between rivals India and Pakistan since 1947
  • India regularly accuses nuclear-armed Pakistan of supporting and arming rebels in Kashmir, a charge Islamabad denies
Updated 11 min 40 sec ago
AFP

Gunmen in Indian-administered Kashmir raked a construction site work camp with bullets, killing seven people and wounding several others, Indian media reported Monday, updating an earlier toll.

The attack on Sunday is one of the worst this year targeting civilians.

The contested territory’s chief minister, Omar Abdullah, called the attack late Sunday “dastardly and cowardly,” while India’s interior minister Amit Shah vowed those responsible would face the “harshest” response.

Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between rivals India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, and is home to a long-running insurgency.

Attackers targeted workers from outside the Himalayan region, who were reported to be building a tunnel connecting Kashmir with the far northern Ladakh region.

Among the seven killed was a doctor, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported on Monday, adding several others were wounded.

Abdullah, who was sworn in as the region’s chief minister on Wednesday after its first local elections for a decade, said he strongly condemned the attack on “non-local laborers.”

Soon after the attack, Abdullah confirmed two people had been killed but had warned there were also “a number of injured laborers, both local and non-local.”

At least 500,000 Indian troops are deployed in Kashmir, battling an insurgency with tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels killed since 1989.

India’s home minister Amit Shah called the killings “a despicable act of cowardice,” in a statement.

“Those involved in this heinous act will not be spared, and will face the harshest response from our security forces,” Shah said.

The attack took place Gagangir in Sonamarg region, where Nitin Gadkari, India’s minister of roads said the “innocent laborers” had been working on a “vital infrastructure project.”

Gunmen fired automatic weapons at the camp from forested hills around, Indian newspapers reported.

India regularly accuses Pakistan of supporting and arming the rebels, a charge Islamabad denies.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government canceled Kashmir’s limited autonomy in 2019, accompanied by mass arrests and a months-long communications blackout.

His administration says the decision has allowed it to stem the insurgency, but critics have accused it of suppressing political freedoms.

Nine Indian Hindu pilgrims were killed and dozens more wounded in June when a gunman opened fire on a bus carrying them from a shrine in Reasi district.

Topics: Kashmir India

Japan PM facing lukewarm approval ahead of election

Japan PM facing lukewarm approval ahead of election
Updated 19 min 22 sec ago
AFP
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Japan PM facing lukewarm approval ahead of election

Japan PM facing lukewarm approval ahead of election
  • Former defense minister Ishiba took office this month after being voted leader of the Liberal Democratic Party
Updated 19 min 22 sec ago
AFP

TOKYO: Approval ratings for Japan’s new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba have fallen ahead of an October 27 general election, one weekend poll showed, with another survey suggesting the ruling coalition could struggle to secure a majority.
Former defense minister Ishiba took office this month after being voted leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has been in power for most of Japan’s post-war history.
Scandals over funding and LDP lawmakers’ ties to the Unification Church, compounded by voter discontent over rising prices, caused the party’s ratings to plummet during the tenure of Ishiba’s predecessor Fumio Kishida.
A Kyodo News survey on Saturday and Sunday put the current approval rating for Ishiba’s cabinet at 41.4 percent, down from 42.0 percent a week earlier.
The disapproval rating was 40.4 percent in the most recent survey of some 1,260 voters, Kyodo said Sunday. Disapproval in the October 12-13 poll was 36.7 percent.
A separate weekend survey by the liberal-leaning Asahi Shimbun newspaper found public support for Ishiba’s cabinet at 33 percent, below 39 percent who disapproved.
Those results are worse than Kishida faced in 2021 ahead of his first general election as premier: 42 percent approval against 31 percent disapproval, the Asahi said.
The daily said its polls indicated that the LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito ran the risk of losing a majority in the upcoming vote.
Jiji Press said its polls and reporting showed the coalition was likely to retain its majority, although the LDP may not pass the threshold on its own — a possibility reflected in several previous polls by other outlets.
The conservative LDP and Komeito, a moderate party backed by a Buddhist-linked group, have been in power since 2012 when late former premier Shinzo Abe won a landslide victory.
“Regardless of whether or not we lose our majority, we should hold positive talks with parties that are trying to develop the country with the same policies,” the LDP’s secretary general Hiroshi Moriyama said in a political debate program aired by public broadcaster NHK on Sunday.

Topics: Japan Shigeru Ishiba

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King Charles heckled by lawmaker at Australian parliament

King Charles heckled by lawmaker at Australian parliament
Updated 24 min 39 sec ago
AFP
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King Charles heckled by lawmaker at Australian parliament

King Charles heckled by lawmaker at Australian parliament
  • “Give us our land back! Give us what you stole from us!” Thorpe screamed in an almost minute-long diatribe
Updated 24 min 39 sec ago
AFP

CANBERRA: Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe shouted anti-colonial slogans at King Charles during his visit to the Australian parliament on Monday, shocking assembled lawmakers and other dignitaries.
“Give us our land back! Give us what you stole from us!” Thorpe screamed in an almost minute-long diatribe, after the 75-year-old king’s speech.
“This is not your land, you are not my king,” the independent lawmaker said, decrying what she described as a “genocide” of Indigenous Australians by European settlers.
Australia was a British colony for more than 100 years, during which time thousands of Aboriginal Australians were killed and entire communities displaced.
The country gained de facto independence in 1901, but has never become a fully fledged republic. King Charles is the current head of state.
Charles is on a nine-day jaunt through Australia and Samoa, the first major foreign tour since his life-changing cancer diagnosis earlier this year.
Thorpe is known for her attention-grabbing political stunts and fierce opposition to the monarchy.
When she was sworn into office in 2022, Thorpe raised her right fist as she begrudgingly swore to serve Queen Elisabeth II, who was then Australia’s head of state.
“I sovereign, Lidia Thorpe, do solemnly and sincerely swear that I will be faithful and I bear true allegiance to the colonizing Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” she said before being rebuked by a Senate official.
“Senator Thorpe, Senator Thorpe, you are required to recite the oath as printed on the card,” said the chamber’s president Sue Lines.
In 1999, Australians narrowly voted against removing the queen, amid a row over whether her replacement would be chosen by members of parliament, not the public.
In 2023 Australians overwhelmingly rejected measures to recognize Indigenous Australians in the constitution at to create an Indigenous consultative assembly.

Topics: King Charles Australia

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New President Subianto announces Indonesia’s largest-ever Cabinet, with 109 members

New President Subianto announces Indonesia’s largest-ever Cabinet, with 109 members
Updated 21 October 2024
AP
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New President Subianto announces Indonesia’s largest-ever Cabinet, with 109 members

New President Subianto announces Indonesia’s largest-ever Cabinet, with 109 members
  • Subianto has said earlier that he needs a strong administration, even though analysts said that his “fat” Cabinet would bloat the bureaucracy
  • Subianto has announced an ambitious goal of increasing annual economic growth to 8 percent by the end of his five-year term
Updated 21 October 2024
AP

JAKARTA, Indonesia: Newly inaugurated President Prabowo Subianto announced Indonesia’s largest-ever Cabinet late Sunday, with 109 members representing his pledge for a strong government.
He named his Cabinet of ministers, vice ministers and head of national agencies the “Red and White Cabinet,” referring to the colors of Indonesia’s flag.
Subianto became the eighth president of Southeast Asia’s largest economy on Sunday.
The Cabinet of Subianto’s predecessor, Joko Widodo, had 34 ministers and head of government agencies.
Subianto has said earlier that he needs a strong administration, even though analysts said that his “fat” Cabinet would bloat the bureaucracy.
“I want to create a strong government that would unite our multicultural society and diverse political interests,” Subianto said before inviting more than 100 people for interviews at his residence last week. “It must be a big coalition, and some will say my Cabinet is fat.”
The Cabinet features politicians from a coalition of seven parties who supported his victory in the February election, and figures allied with Widodo’s Cabinet, who were reappointed to continue their jobs under Subianto’s presidency. Analysts said the move was a political reward to Widodo for the latter’s tacit support in the election.
Subianto was sworn in with his new vice president, 37-year-old Surakarta ex-Mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka. He chose Raka, who is Widodo’s son, as his running mate, with Widodo favoring Subianto over the candidate of his own former party. The former rivals became tacit allies, even though Indonesian presidents don’t typically endorse candidates.
Subianto was a longtime rival of the Widodo, who ran against him for the presidency twice and refused to accept his defeat on both occasions, in 2014 and 2019.
But Widodo appointed Subianto as defense chief after his reelection, paving the way for an alliance despite their rival political parties. During the campaign, Subianto ran as the popular outgoing president’s heir, vowing to continue signature policies like the construction of a multibillion-dollar new capital city and limits on exporting raw materials intended to boost domestic industry.
Backed by Widodo, Subianto swept to a landslide victory in February’s direct presidential election on promises of policy continuity.
Subianto reappointed nearly half of Widodo’s Cabinet members, including Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, making her the first person to hold the ministry under three different presidents.
Indrawati, 62, who has served as the executive director of the International Monetary Fund and managing director of the World Bank, is one of Indonesia’s longest-serving finance ministers, having held the post for long stretches under Presidents Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Joko Widodo.
She has earned considerable respect in international circles, particularly for her reforms of the chaotic Indonesian taxation system and her role in steering Indonesia through the global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We regularly consulted with each other to discuss strategies for strengthening the Finance Ministry and the state finances to support his programs,” Indrawati told reporters after meeting with Subianto last week.
Other ministers from Widodo’s Cabinet include Interior Minister Tito Karnavian, Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan, Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir.
Subianto has announced an ambitious goal of increasing annual economic growth to 8 percent by the end of his five-year term, and embarking on an ambitious spending program, including an increase in defense spending, hikes in civil servants’ salaries, and a program to give 83 million children free meals.

Topics: Indonesia Prabowo Subianto

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Elon Musk’s $1 million giveaway to voters who sign PAC petition raises red flags: Election experts

Elon Musk’s $1 million giveaway to voters who sign PAC petition raises red flags: Election experts
Updated 21 October 2024
AP
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Elon Musk’s $1 million giveaway to voters who sign PAC petition raises red flags: Election experts

Elon Musk’s $1 million giveaway to voters who sign PAC petition raises red flags: Election experts
  • Musk has posted on X that he would offer people $47 — and then $100 — for referring others to register and signing the petition
  • Experts say it is a violation of the law to link a cash handout to signing a petition that also requires a person to be registered to vote
Updated 21 October 2024
AP

 

Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla and Space X and owner of X who’s gone all-in on Republican Donald Trump’s candidacy for the White House, has already committed at least $70 million to help the former president. Now he’s pledging to give away $1 million to voters for signing his political action committee’s petition backing the Constitution.
The giveaway is raising questions and alarms among some election experts who say it is a violation of the law to link a cash handout to signing a petition that also requires a person to be registered to vote.
Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, the state’s former attorney general, expressed concern about the plan on Sunday.
“I think there are real questions with how he is spending money in this race, how the dark money is flowing, not just into Pennsylvania, but apparently now into the pockets of Pennsylvanians. That is deeply concerning,” he said on NBC’ “Meet the Press.”
A closer look at what’s going on:
What is Musk doing?
Musk promised on Saturday that he would give away $1 million a day, until the Nov. 5 election, for people signing his PAC’s petition supporting the First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech, and the Second Amendment, with its right “to keep and bear arms.” He awarded a check during an event Saturday in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to a man identified as John Dreher. A message left with a number listed for Dreher was not returned Sunday. He gave out another check Sunday.
What’s the broader context here?
Musk’s America PAC has launched a tour of Pennsylvania, a critical election battleground. He’s aiming to register voters in support of Trump, whom Musk has endorsed. The PAC is also pushing to persuade voters in other key states. It’s not the first offer of cash the organization has made. Musk has posted on X, the platform he purchased as Twitter before renaming it, that he would offer people $47 — and then $100 — for referring others to register and signing the petition.
Trump, who was campaigning Sunday in Pennsylvania, was asked about Musk’s giveaway, and said, “I haven’t followed that.” Trump said he “speaks to Elon a lot. He’s a friend of mine” and called him great for the country.
What’s the issue with that?
Some election law experts are raising red flags about the giveaway. Brendan Fischer, a campaign finance lawyer, said the latest iteration of Musk’s giveaway approaches a legal boundary. That’s because the PAC is requiring registration as a prerequisite to become eligible for the $1 million check. “There would be few doubts about the legality if every Pennsylvania-based petition signer were eligible, but conditioning the payments on registration arguably violates the law,” Fischer said in an email.
Rick Hasen, a UCLA Law School political science professor, went further. He pointed to a law that prohibits paying people for registering to vote or for voting. “If all he was doing was paying people to sign the petition, that might be a waste of money. But there’s nothing illegal about it,” Hasen said in a telephone interview. “The problem is that the only people eligible to participate in this giveaway are the people who are registered to vote. And that makes it illegal.”
Michael Kang, an election law professor at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law, said the context of the giveaway so close to Election Day makes it harder to make the case that the effort is anything but a incentivizing people to register to vote.
“It’s not quite the same as paying someone to vote, but you’re getting close enough that we worry about its legality,” Kang said.
A message seeking comment was left with the PAC on Sunday, as was a request for comment from the Justice Department.
Can the PAC and Trump’s campaign coordinate?
Typically coordination between campaigns and so-called super PACs had been forbidden. But a recent opinion by the Federal Election Commissioner, which regulates federal campaigns, permitted candidates and these groups to work together in certain cases, including getting out the vote efforts.

Topics: US Election 2024 Elon Musk

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