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Trump picks Ron Johnson as US ambassador to Mexico

Trump picks Ron Johnson as US ambassador to Mexico
Former US ambassador to El Salvador Ronald Johnson. (AFP/File)
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Updated 1 min 2 sec ago
Reuters
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Trump picks Ron Johnson as US ambassador to Mexico

Trump picks Ron Johnson as US ambassador to Mexico
Updated 1 min 2 sec ago
Reuters
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WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump has picked former US ambassador to El Salvador, Ronald Johnson, as the next United States ambassador to Mexico, he said on social media on Tuesday.
Johnson served as the ambassador to El Salvador from 2019 to 2021. Trump also cited Johnson’s more than 20 years of experience with the CIA in his announcement.
Trump made illegal immigration along the US-Mexico border a key issue during his election campaign.
Mexico has played a key role in implementing US immigration policy in recent years, accepting migrants from countries to which the US struggles to deport people, such as Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
US government estimates, though, also suggest nearly half of the immigrants living in the US illegally are Mexican.
“Ron will work closely with our great Secretary of State Nominee, Marco Rubio, to promote our Nation’s security and prosperity through strong America First Foreign Policies,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
US Senator Marco Rubio has been tapped by Trump for secretary of state.
Mexico is bracing for the arrival of large numbers of its citizens deported from the US once Trump takes office in January. It has argued, however, the deportations are unnecessary, pointing to the contribution of Mexicans to the US economy.
Mexico is seeking an agreement with Trump to ensure it does not receive deportees from third countries in case of large-scale deportations of migrants from the United States, President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday.
Trump has threatened tariffs on Canada and Mexico until they clamped down on drugs and migrants crossing the border. 

Topics: Trump Returns

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Russia transported Assad in ‘most secured way,’ Russian Deputy FM tells NBC News

Russia transported Assad in ‘most secured way,’ Russian Deputy FM tells NBC News
Updated 11 December 2024
Reuters
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Russia transported Assad in ‘most secured way,’ Russian Deputy FM tells NBC News

Russia transported Assad in ‘most secured way,’ Russian Deputy FM tells NBC News
  • Asked whether Russia would hand over Assad for trial, Ryabkov said: “Russia is not a party to the convention that established the International Criminal Court”
  • Moscow has supported Syria since the early days of the Cold War, recognizing its independence in 1944 as Damascus sought to throw off French colonial rule
Updated 11 December 2024
Reuters

MOSCOW: Russia transported Bashar Assad, who was ousted as Syria’s president by a lightning rebel offensive, very securely to Russia, the country’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, told NBC News in an interview aired on Tuesday.
The Kremlin said on Monday that President Vladimir Putin had made the decision to grant asylum in Russia to Assad. His fall is a big blow to Iran and Russia, which had intervened in Syria’s 13-year civil war to try to shore up his rule despite Western demands that he leave power.
“He is secured, and it shows that Russia acts as required in such an extraordinary situation,” Ryabkov told NBC, according to a transcript on NBC’s website. He added that he would not elaborate “on what happened and how it was resolved.”
Asked whether Russia would hand over Assad for trial, Ryabkov said: “Russia is not a party to the convention that established the International Criminal Court.”
Moscow has supported Syria since the early days of the Cold War, recognizing its independence in 1944 as Damascus sought to throw off French colonial rule. The West saw Syria as a Soviet satellite.
On Tuesday, Syria’s new interim leader announced that he was taking charge of the country as caretaker prime minister with the backing of the former rebels who toppled Assad.
Separately, Ryabkov said that Russia would “definitely be prepared to consider” another prisoner swap, similar to the
August exchange that involved Wall Street Journal reporter journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-US Marine Paul Whelan.
A new deal would be “a healthy step forward, especially at the beginning of the next administration,” Ryabkov told NBC, adding he would not want to “pre-empt anything.”

 

Topics: Fall of Assad Syria Russia

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Syria must not repeat ‘horrific scenarios’ of Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan: EU’s Kallas

Syria must not repeat ‘horrific scenarios’ of Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan: EU’s Kallas
Updated 11 December 2024
AFP
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Syria must not repeat ‘horrific scenarios’ of Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan: EU’s Kallas

Syria must not repeat ‘horrific scenarios’ of Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan: EU’s Kallas
  • Kallas threw her weight behind United Nations efforts to help steward an “orderly, peaceful and inclusive transition”
Updated 11 December 2024
AFP

BRUSSELS, Belgium: EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned Tuesday of the risks of sectarian violence and an extremist resurgence in Syria, as she urged international powers to help a peaceful transition after Bashar Assad’s fall.
“We must avoid a repeat of the horrific scenarios in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan,” Kallas told a hearing of EU lawmakers.
“It is our role as international partners to accompany the Syrian people in piecing together a shattered society.”
Kallas said there were questions over whether Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), which spearheaded the ouster of Syrian president Bashar Assad and once had root in Al-Qaeda, “had changed.”
The EU’s top diplomat said Assad’s ouster was a “huge blow” for his Russian and Iranian allies.
“They are weakened, distracted and overstretched in other theaters in the broader Middle East and in Ukraine,” she said.
Kallas threw her weight behind United Nations efforts to help steward an “orderly, peaceful and inclusive transition.”
She said that Western nations needed to work with regional players including the Gulf states, Turkiye, Lebanon, Iraq and Israel “to address shared challenges.”
Kallas said Syria needed an “inclusive rebuilding process” that involved minorities as well as women and girls.
The EU was monitoring humanitarian conditions to see if more aid was needed and would help efforts to hold Assad’s government responsible for its crimes, she said.
 

 

Topics: Fall of Assad Syria The European Union

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Australian PM says anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney an ‘outrage’

Australian PM says anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney an ‘outrage’
Updated 11 December 2024
AFP
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Australian PM says anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney an ‘outrage’

Australian PM says anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney an ‘outrage’
  • “The incident in Sydney is an outrage and another anti-Semitic attack,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement on social media
Updated 11 December 2024
AFP

SYDNEY: Vandals daubed anti-Israel graffiti in a Sydney suburb on Wednesday, police said, sparking “outrage” from Australia’s government days after a Melbourne synagogue was set ablaze.
Police said they were seeking two people aged 15-20 who wore face coverings in relation to the incident, in which a car was also torched in the early hours.
Graffiti was spread over the burned car, another vehicle, two buildings and a footpath, state police said.
Images on local media showed the misspelled phrase “Kill Israiel” painted in black on a white wall in the eastern suburb of Woollahra, which has a long-established Jewish community.
A contractor painted over the graffiti soon afterwards.
“The incident in Sydney is an outrage and another anti-Semitic attack,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement on social media.
“I stand with the Jewish community and unequivocally condemn this attack. There is no place for hatred or anti-Semitism in our country.”
The Australian leader said he would be briefed by a federal police task force that was set up this week to investigate anti-Semitic attacks.
Albanese had toured the charred remains of the Melbourne synagogue the day before, urging the country to unite in the face of the “evil” arson attack.
Counter-terror police are hunting for three suspects believed responsible for setting fire to the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in the early hours of Friday.
The synagogue blaze was met with international condemnation, including from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who accused the Australian government of harboring “anti-Israel sentiment.”
The war in Gaza has sparked protests from supporters of Israel and Palestinians in cities around Australia, as in much of the world.
A body representing Australia’s Jewish community said the Sydney graffiti and car-burning was designed to “terrorize.”
“How long will this continue and with what horrors will it end?” asked Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
“We ask that you stand with us. March with us. Don’t let this evil tear our country to pieces.”
The New South Wales state premier, Chris Minns, said the Sydney incident was “shocking.”
“This is not the Sydney we want. These racist attempts to divide our city will not work,” the premier said.
The perpetrators “will be found and they will face the full force of the law,” he said.

Topics: anti-israel graffiti antisemitism sydney Anthony Albanese

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Ex-human rights lawyer avoids jail in UK over Iraq War fraud

Ex-human rights lawyer avoids jail in UK over Iraq War fraud
Updated 11 December 2024
AFP
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Ex-human rights lawyer avoids jail in UK over Iraq War fraud

Ex-human rights lawyer avoids jail in UK over Iraq War fraud
  • British troops involved in the conflict faced accusations including rape, torture and mock executions
Updated 11 December 2024
AFP

LONDON: A former human rights lawyer who admitted to fraud over false claims of war-crimes against UK soldiers during the Iraq conflict was on Tuesday spared jail at a London court.
A British tribunal struck off Phil Shiner, 67, in 2017 after finding him guilty of misconduct and dishonesty in connection with allegations against veterans of the Iraq War.
British soldiers served in the US-led invasion that began in 2003 and led to the fall of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Shiner admitted at Southwark Crown Court that he made an application for up to £200,000 ($255,000) of legal aid funding for his firm to represent clients, but failed to disclose that an agent acting on his behalf had made unsolicited approaches to potential clients in Iraq.
He also failed to disclose that he was paying referral fees, which is not allowed when applying for legal aid.
“This man drummed up business by paying fixers to find cases and profited from it by lying to the Legal Aid Board in what the judge called a thoroughly dishonest fashion,” said Hilary Meredith-Beckham, a lawyer who has represented veterans involved in the accusations.
Judge Christopher Hehir on Tuesday handed Shiner a jail sentence suspended for two years for three counts of fraud.
He will only serve time in prison if he commits further offenses during that period.
“You have already suffered professional and personal ruin and I do not consider it necessary to add to that by sending you straight to prison,” said Hehir.
British troops involved in the conflict faced accusations including rape, torture and mock executions.
A subsequent £24 million inquiry found the allegations of torture and murder were “wholly without foundation and entirely the product of deliberate lies, reckless speculation and ingrained hostility.”
Former soldier Robert Campbell, who was wrongly accused of drowning an Iraqi teenager, said outside court that he was “pretty disgusted” Shiner was not sentenced to prison.
“The listing in court was a very benign documents case that didn’t reflect the human element of what he has done in the slightest,” he said.
“Of course he should have gone to jail. His poison has spread far beyond the Iraq war.”

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US troops are staying in Syria, White House’s Finer says

US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer. (AFP)
US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer. (AFP)
Updated 11 December 2024
Reuters
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US troops are staying in Syria, White House’s Finer says

US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer. (AFP)
  • Washington still designates as a terrorist organization the Sunni Muslim group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, which was chief among the rebel forces that ended 50 years of brutal dynastic rule by Assad
Updated 11 December 2024
Reuters

NEW YORK: US troops will be staying in Syria after the fall of President Bashar Assad as part of a counter-terrorism mission focused on destroying Daesh militants, a top White House official said on Tuesday.
“Those troops are there for a very specific and important reason, not as some sort of bargaining chip,” US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said in an interview at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York.
US troops “have been there now for the better part of a decade or more to fight Daesh... we are still committed to that mission.”
Asked directly whether US troops are staying, Finer said, “Yes.”
Daesh in 2014 swept through large swaths of Syria and Iraq and established an Islamic caliphate before it was driven out by a US-led coalition by 2019.
Syrian rebels seized the capital Damascus unopposed on Sunday after a lightning advance that sent Assad fleeing to Russia after a 13-year civil war and more than five decades of his family’s autocratic rule.
But Washington now sees its military presence as a hedge against further instability, even as it remains unclear how Syria’s new rulers will view US presence.
Washington still designates as a terrorist organization the Sunni Muslim group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, which was chief among the rebel forces that ended 50 years of brutal dynastic rule by Assad.
“There has been no formal change in any policies,” on such groups, said Finer. “Those designations are not made based on what groups say or what they say their intentions are or they intend to do, it’s about actions so we will be watching.”
He characterized as “quite constructive” some of what those groups have been saying in recent weeks but said Washington would wait and see if those statements are followed by action to bring about “credible, inclusive governance for Syria.”
He said the Biden administration is in contact with members of the incoming team of President-elect Donald Trump and keeping them apprised about Syria.

 

Topics: Fall of Assad Syria US

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