BALTIMORE: US vice president Mike Pence took center stage at the Republican convention Wednesday to warn voters they “won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America” — casting Donald Trump as their protector against the “radical” left.
Pence was the keynote speaker in a parade of Trump acolytes who sought to uplift the president as an economic virtuoso and champion of conservative and pro-life values, law enforcement and civil rights.
They also spoke of dark forces intent on ending the American dream, and said losing to their Democratic rivals is not an option.
“Law and order is on the ballot,” Pence stressed on the third night of a convention overshadowed by violent unrest in Wisconsin and the approach of Hurricane Laura to the southern US coast.
He addressed the event from Fort McHenry in Baltimore, the site of an 1814 British bombardment that inspired the poem later turned into the US national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
With that backdrop, Pence made the patriotic case for Trump getting a second term instead of allowing the nation to be “fundamentally transformed” by a Biden administration he warned would take an uncharted path toward socialism and mob rule.
“The hard truth is, you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America,” said the 61-year-old Pence.
Pence’s address came amid a new flare-up of racial tensions in the United States, with protests spreading over the latest police shooting of an African-American man, Jacob Blake, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Trump announced he is sending in additional federal forces to quell unrest in the Midwestern city, where two people were shot dead during anti-police protests Tuesday. A 17-year-old has been arrested on murder charges.
Addressing the latest unrest, Pence struck a tough tone.
“Let me be clear. The violence must stop whether in Minneapolis, Portland or Kenosha,” he said.
“We will have law and order on the streets of this country for every American.”
Touting Trump’s strong economic record before the Covid-19 epidemic struck and his ongoing efforts to revive it — Pence urged voters to ask themselves “who do you trust to rebuild this economy?”
A former governor of Indiana, the evangelical Christian Pence has taken on the role of calm counterweight to Trump’s constant drama.
As a traditional conservative Pence seeks to reassure old-school Republicans, while also praising the new generation of Trump loyalists — a balancing act that will likely play out within the party ahead of the presidential election in 2024.
Pence is playing an important part in Trump’s re-election, crisscrossing the country — with an emphasis on swing states including Wisconsin — to rally support.
He has similarly served as the White House’s sober pointman on coronavirus, which has killed nearly 180,000 Americans since Trump’s initial, erroneous prediction that it would disappear without trouble.
Where Trump has veered radically between dismissing the crisis and grimly embracing a self-declared role as a “wartime president,” Pence has shouldered the unglamorous role of White House coronavirus task force coordinator.
He reached out to the millions of Americans upended by the crisis in a way Trump has appeared unable to do.
“Tonight, our hearts are with all the families who have lost loved ones. We mourn with those who mourn, and we grieve with those who grieve,” Pence said.
But in comments sure to draw criticism from opponents, Pence saluted Trump’s handling of the pandemic.
“We are slowing the spread, we are protecting the vulnerable, we are saving lives, and we are opening up America again,” he said.
Polls show almost two-thirds of Americans are unhappy with Trump’s coronavirus response, and Biden’s camp said Pence’s speech offered “no real discussion of the crushing financial hardship countless families are facing as a result.”
His communications director Kate Bedingfield said: “Instead of a roadmap to defeat this virus and rebuild our economy so that it works for the middle class, Vice President Pence only offered up debunked scare tactics and gaslighting in an attempt to further divide us.”
Trump’s Democratic rival holds a lead nationally, but a CNBC-Change Research poll released Wednesday showed the race tightening across six swing states including Florida, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris, will be attacking Trump on his coronavirus record at a speech Thursday in Washington, the same day Trump gives his main acceptance speech at the White House to close out the Republican convention.
Pence’s Baltimore address follows two days of appearances by Trump boosters, including First Lady Melania Trump, who on Tuesday defended the president as “an authentic person who loves this country.”
Trump, never far from the spotlight, flew with Melania to Baltimore to celebrate with the Pences after the vice president’s speech but did not formally address the gathering.
Pence warns US voters: ‘You won’t be safe’ under Joe Biden
https://arab.news/6t6fz
Pence warns US voters: ‘You won’t be safe’ under Joe Biden
- US vice president makes patriotic case for Donald Trump getting a second term
- Polls show almost two-thirds of Americans are unhappy with Trump’s coronavirus response
Indian villagers beat five to death for ‘witchcraft’
Three people have been arrested and have confessed to the crime, police in the northern state of Bihar said in a statement.
Three women — including a 75-year-old — were among those murdered.
The main accused believed that his son’s recent death was caused by one of those killed, and blamed “him and his family of practicing witchcraft,” the statement said.
“After beating the victims to death, the perpetrators loaded the bodies onto a tractor and dumped them in a pond,” police said.
The murderers and victims all belonged to India’s Oraon tribe in Bihar, India’s poorest state and a mainly Hindu region of at least 130 million people.
Despite campaigns against superstition, belief in witchcraft remains widespread in rural areas across India, especially in isolated tribal communities.
Some states, including Bihar, have introduced laws to try to curb crimes against people accused of witchcraft and superstition.
Women have often been branded witches and targeted, but the killing of the family of five stands out as a particularly heinous recent example.
More than 1,500 people — the overwhelming majority of them women — were killed in India on suspicion of witchcraft between 2010 and 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.
Some believe in the occult, but attackers also sometimes have other motives including usurping their rights over land and property.
Germany must honor visa obligations to Afghan refugees, rules court
- Since May 2021, Germany has admitted about 36,500 vulnerable Afghans including former local staff by various pathways
- Some 2,400 Afghans approved for admission are waiting in Pakistan to travel to Germany without a clear idea of when
BERLIN: A German court ruled on Tuesday that the government is obliged to issue visas to Afghan nationals and their family members who were accepted into a humanitarian admissions program that the new center-right coalition intends to shut down.
After the hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 by Western allies, Germany established several programs to resettle local staff as well as particularly vulnerable Afghans.
Since May 2021, Germany has admitted about 36,500 vulnerable Afghans including former local staff by various pathways.
Some 2,400 Afghans approved for admission are waiting in Pakistan to travel to Germany without a clear idea of when, as the program has been suspended pending a government review, the foreign ministry in Berlin said this month.
The court decision, in response to an urgent appeal by an Afghan woman and her family, ruled that the government was legally bound to honor its “irrevocable” commitment to them.
“The applicants assert that they are entitled to a visa and can no longer remain in Pakistan. They face deportation to Afghanistan, where they fear for their lives,” it said.
However, the government is within its rights to end the program for Afghans and refrain from issuing any new admission commitments going forward, according to the court in Berlin.
NGOs have said that an additional 17,000 Afghans are in the early stages of selection and application under the now-dormant scheme.
The court’s decision can be appealed.
The foreign ministry did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Germany’s new government has pledged a tougher stance on migration after several high-profile attacks and the rise of the far-right made it a pivotal issue in February elections.
As a part of that push, conservative Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has vowed to halt refugee admission programs and to deport people to Afghanistan and Syria.
Cambodian garment workers fret Trump’s new tariff threat
- Cambodia, a major manufacturer of low cost clothing for Western brands, was among the nations hardest hit by Trump’s “Liberation Day” blitz of tariff threats in April
PHNOM PENH: As Cambodian garment workers took breaks from toiling in sweltering factories on Tuesday, they feared for their jobs after US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose a 36 percent tariff.
“I beg the US to reduce the tariff for the sake of workers in Cambodia,” 38-year-old Im Sothearin told AFP as she rested from her work in an underwear factory in the capital Phnom Penh.
“If they charge a high tariff, it is only workers who are going to suffer,” said the mother-of-three who earns only $300 a month.
“Factories might be closed or workers will have their wages lowered, or be forced to work faster.”
Cambodia — a major manufacturer of low-cost clothing for Western brands — was among the nations hardest hit by Trump’s “Liberation Day” blitz of tariff threats in April.
The US president originally outlined a 49-percent rate if Cambodia failed to broker a deal with Washington. On Monday, he lowered it to 36 percent and extended the negotiation deadline to August 1.
While the levy is lower than the original eye-watering figure, it has done little to allay anxieties.
“If the tariff is that high, companies won’t have money to pay,” 28-year-old pregnant worker Sreymom, who goes by only one name, told AFP as she bought fruit on her lunch break.
“I am worried that we won’t have jobs to do,” the 11-year veteran of the factory floor said. “I want the tariff to be reduced more.”
Cambodia’s chief negotiator in talks with Washington called the reduction in the proposed rate — announced in a letter among more than a dozen Trump despatched to trade partners — a “huge victory.”
“We are so successful in negotiations,” Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol told reporters in Phnom Penh. “We still have a chance to negotiate further to reduce the tariff rate more.”
But back in April commerce ministry spokesman Penn Sovicheat told AFP that harsh US tariffs on his country were “not reasonable.”
Cambodia said it had about $10 billion in exports to the United States last year, mainly garment products.
The nation has been paying a 10-percent standby rate as negotiators rush to make a deal.
Many factories in Cambodia are Chinese-owned. The White House previously accused the kingdom of allowing Chinese goods to stop over on the way to US markets, thereby skirting steeper rates imposed on Beijing.
Yi Mom has had a two-decade career in the garment industry. But she frets it may be ended if Cambodia fails to soften the blow threatened by the United States.
“I fear that the high tariff will affect factories and will result in fewer jobs for workers,” said the 47-year-old.
“Then we will have low wages and will not be able to support our families.”
UN says ‘deeply troubled’ by Kenya protest killings
- The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights meanwhile reported at least 10 deaths, 29 injuries, 37 arrests and two abductions
GENEVA: The United Nations on Tuesday expressed serious concern over the deaths of at least 10 people in Kenya where police and protesters clashed during anti-government demonstrations the previous day.
The violence erupted on Saba Saba Day (meaning Seven Seven) when demonstrators annually mark the events of July 7, 1990 when Kenyans rose up to demand a return to multi-party democracy after years of autocratic rule by then-president Daniel arap Moi.
“We are deeply troubled by the killings yesterday of at least 10 people, as well as looting and destruction of property in Kenya,” UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
She said that “lethal ammunition, rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons were used” as police responded to the protests.
She highlighted that Kenyan police had reported that at least 11 people were killed, 52 police officers injured and 567 arrests made.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights meanwhile reported at least 10 deaths, 29 injuries, 37 arrests and two abductions, she added.
“We have also received reports of looting and damage to public and private property by unidentified individuals in multiple locations.”
Shamdasani said the violence came “barely two weeks after 15 protesters were reportedly killed and many more injured in Nairobi and other parts of Kenya on 25 June.”
UN rights chief Volker Turk renews “his call for calm and restrain, and full respect for the freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly,” she said.
“It is essential that legitimate grievances at the root of these protests are addressed,” the spokeswoman said.
The UN rights office noted that Kenyan police had announced an investigation into earlier incidents.
Shamdasani stressed that “under international human rights law, intentional lethal force by law enforcement officers, including with firearms, should only be used when strictly necessary to protect life from an imminent threat.”
Turk reiterates “his call for all reported killings and other alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law, including with respect to use of force, to be promptly, thoroughly, independently and transparently investigated,” she said.
“Those responsible must be held to account.”
Acropolis shuts, outdoor work halted as heatwave scorches Greece
- To protect outdoor workers, the labor ministry has decreed a work stoppage from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. in various parts of the country, including several islands
- The Greek culture ministry said the world renowned site would be shut till 5:00 p.m
ATHENS: Greece’s top archaeological monument, the Acropolis, was partially shut Tuesday as part of emergency measures to protect visitors and workers around the country during a four-day heatwave.
The Greek culture ministry said the world-renowned site would be shut till 5:00 p.m. (1400 GMT) “for the safety of workers and visitors, owing to high temperatures.”
The four-day heatwave confirmed by meteorologists began Sunday is the second to grip Greece since late June.
Temperatures are expected to reach 42 Celsius (107.6 Fahrenheit) on Tuesday, with a maximum of 38 Celsius in Athens.
Similar temperatures are expected on Wednesday.
To protect outdoor workers, the labor ministry has decreed a work stoppage from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. in various parts of the country, including several islands.
The stoppage mainly affects construction work and delivery riders.
“Days with a heatwave make my job more difficult,” cycle-riding courier Michalis Keskinidis told AFP.
“We drink a lot of water to protect ourselves from the heat, combined with electrolytes, and take breaks whenever possible,” the 43-year-old said.
The 2,500-year-old Acropolis, built on a rock overlooking the capital that offers little shade, draws tens of thousands of visitors daily.
Last year it recorded some 4.5 million visitors, an increase of over 15 percent compared to 2023.
Officials had been forced to order similar shutdowns in the past two years in heatwave conditions.
The Greek civil protection authority has warned of high fire risk in the greater Athens area, in central Greece and the Peloponnese peninsula.
Greece’s fire department has been dealing with up to 50 fires daily, the head of the Greek fire service officers’ union Constantinos Tsigkas told state TV ERT.
Elsewhere, Serbia’s hydrometeorological service RMHZ warned that weather conditions could fuel more fires, after 620 fires were recorded Monday.
But there are also thunderstorms expected in Serbia’s northern Vojvodina region, as well as in western and central areas.
RHMZ has also warned of the possibility of hail and hurricane-force gusts of wind.
Croatia has already felt the impact of storms since Monday, with several of the country’s regions affected.
Two people were injured and hospitalized in Vinkovci after a storm knocked down a power line on a family house near the eastern town, police said.
The authorities said they had taken dozens of calls over wind-related emergencies including trees blocking roads, damaged roofs and power failures.
On Tuesday, heavy rain and gale-force winds flooded roads, knocked down trees and caused power outages at the Croatian port town of Split, the state-run HRT broadcaster reported.
At the town’s port, a ferry broke its moorings and hit a catamaran and a tourist excursion boat, sinking the latter.
There was similar trouble further north, with storms raging in Hungary and Slovakia.
In Budapest, strong winds damaged roofs, felled trees onto roads and downed power lines on Monday, with the national meteorological service HungaroMet measuring winds up to 137 kilometers (85 miles) per hour locally.
Rail traffic was severely disrupted across Hungary with full restoration of services potentially requiring weeks, according to Construction and Transport Minister Janos Lazar.
In Slovakia, gale-force winds caused power outages and blew off the roof of a block of flats in the eastern town of Gelnica and fallen trees disrupted road and railway transport across the region.
The country’s weather service SHMU has issued a storm warning with heavy rain, wind and hail for Tuesday, mainly for central and eastern Slovakia.
