With breakthrough in UK election, far right leader Farage says establishment ‘revolt’ is underway

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage meets residents as he eats a 99 Flake ice cream in Clacton-on-Sea, eastern England, on July 4, 2024 as Britain holds a general election. (AFP)
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Updated 05 July 2024
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With breakthrough in UK election, far right leader Farage says establishment ‘revolt’ is underway

  • Reform UK, a re-brand of the Brexit Party that Farage founded in 2018, were predicted to secure 13 seats
  • Farage is a one-time Conservative who quit the party in the early 1990s to co-found the euroskeptic UK Independence Party (UKIP)

LONDON: Brexit figurehead Nigel Farage has claimed to have kickstarted a “revolt against the establishment,” after exit polls indicated his hard-right party had secured an unprecedented electoral breakthrough.
Reform UK, a re-brand of the Brexit Party that Farage founded in 2018, were predicted to secure 13 seats — the first time a party on Britain’s far-right fringes has won more than a single seat.
“This, folks, is huge,” Farage said in a social media video posted early Friday.
“The revolt against the establishment is underway,” he added on X.
Reform appeared to have far exceed expectations in the election, after it was forecast in the latter stages of the campaign to win just a handful of seats in the House of Commons.
Farage, who launched an eighth bid to become one of the country’s 650 MPs mid-way through the six-week campaign, was set to succeed finally in Clacton, eastern England, according to the exit poll for UK broadcasters.
This would put the attention-grabbing populist figurehead in a prime position to attempt his long-term aim of staging a “takeover” of the Conservatives.
Millions of their voters appeared to have already switched their support to Reform, leaving the Tories — in power since 2010 — facing their worst result in nearly two centuries, the exit polls said.
Reform’s surge comes as hard-right parties or politicians increase their appeal across Europe and in the United States.

Seen as one of Britain’s most effective communicators and campaigners, Farage — a privately educated son of a stockbroker — is a long-time ally of US President Donald Trump.
“This is the beginning of a big movement,” David Bull, Reform’s deputy leader told Sky News, as the UK awaited the official tallies late Thursday.
“This is a political revolt. It’s also a five-year plan. If we can go from nothing four years ago to winning 13 seats, imagine what we can do in five years’ time.”

Farage, 60, is a one-time Conservative who quit the party in the early 1990s to co-found the euroskeptic UK Independence Party (UKIP).
He pulled off an unprecedented win in the 2014 European Parliament elections, serving as an MEP for the fringe party for around two decades and helping to make Euroskepticism more mainstream.
But UKIP never managed to win more than one seat in a general election. Farage himself failed to become an MP on seven separate occasions.
But his national prominence continued to grow after he became a driving force behind the 2016 Brexit vote, before forging a career as a presenter on the brash right-wing TV channel GB News.
Entering the 2024 general election after initially ruling himself out, Farage said he was bidding to emulate efforts in Canada in the 1990s by right-wing fringes to take over its Conservative Party.
His candidacy dramatically re-energised Reform UK, while spooking the Tories as polls immediately registered an uptick in support for the hard-right anti-immigrant outfit.
Conservatives and centrists now fear Farage could have the perfect platform in parliament to further legitimize his staunchly anti-establishment populist messaging.
“If this exit poll is right, this feels like Nigel Farage’s dream scenario — he’ll be rubbing his hands with glee,” said Chris Hopkins, political research director at pollster Savanta.
“He’s got enough MPs to make a racket in Westminster, and the party he shares the closest political space with could be reduced to a long period of soul-searching.”


Texas offers Trump land on US-Mexico border for potential mass deportations

Updated 5 sec ago
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Texas offers Trump land on US-Mexico border for potential mass deportations

McALLEN, Texas: Texas is offering a parcel of rural ranchland along the US-Mexico border to use as a staging area for potential mass deportations under President-elect Donald Trump.
The property, which Texas originally purchased last month, is located in rural Starr County in the Rio Grande Valley. Republican Dawn Buckingham, the Texas Land Commissioner, sent a letter Nov. 14 to Trump extending the offer.
“We do hear through back channels that they are taking a look at it and considering it. But we just want them to know we’re a good partner. We’re here. We want to be helpful,” Buckingham told The Associated Press in an interview on Wednesday.
The property has no paved roads and sits in a county with one public hospital and limited local resources. But Buckingham stressed its location.
“We feel like this is actually very well-located. The land is very flat there. It’s adjacent to major airports. It’s also adjacent to a bridge over the river,” Buckingham said. “So if it’s helpful, then I would love to partner up with the federal government. And if it’s not, then we’ll continue to look to ways to be helpful to them.”
The land offer is the latest illustration of a sharp divide between states and local governments on whether to support or resist Trump’s plans for mass deportations of migrants living in the US illegally. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to become a “sanctuary” jurisdiction, limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities to carry out deportations.
Texas leaders have long backed aggressive measures on the border to curb crossings, including installing razor-wire barriers and passing a law last year that would allow law enforcement to arrest migrants who cross the border illegally.
“By offering this newly-acquired 1400-acre property to the incoming Trump Administration for the construction of a facility for the processing, detention, and coordination of what will be the largest deportation of violent criminals in our nation’s history, I stand united with President Donald Trump to ensure American families are protected,” Buckingham said in an earlier statement.
Trump has said he plans to begin his deportation efforts on the first day of his presidency. He frequently attacked illegal immigration during his campaign, linking a record spike in unauthorized border crossings to issues ranging from drug trafficking to high housing prices.
There are an estimated 11 million people in the country illegally. Questions remain about how people would be identified and where they would be detained.
The president-elect’s transition team did not say whether they would accept Texas’ offer but sent a statement.
“On day one, President Trump will marshal every lever of power to secure the border, protect their communities, and launch the largest mass deportation operation of illegal immigrant criminals in history,” Karoline Leavitt, the transition spokeswoman for Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, said Wednesday.
The Texas General Land Office did not disclose the amount paid for the land, but Buckingham stated the previous owner resisted the creation of a border wall.
A 1.5-mile (2.4 kilometer) stretch of border wall was built under Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in 2021 on that land. Buckingham said with the recent purchase, the state has created another easement for more border wall construction.


Haiti blasts comments from France’s Macron as ‘unfriendly and inappropriate’

Updated 34 min 29 sec ago
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Haiti blasts comments from France’s Macron as ‘unfriendly and inappropriate’

PORT-AU-PRINCE: Haitian Foreign Minister Harvel Jean-Baptiste on Thursday met with French Ambassador Antoine Michon over what the ministry branded as “unfriendly and inappropriate” comments from the French president as he left the G20 summit in Brazil.
French President Emmanuel Macron had on Wednesday called the decision of the Carribean country’s transitional presidential council to oust the prime minister earlier this month as “completely dumb.”


NATO says new Russian missile will not alter course of Ukraine war

Updated 55 min 25 sec ago
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NATO says new Russian missile will not alter course of Ukraine war

BRUSSELS: The experimental hypersonic intermediate-range missile Russia fired at Ukraine will not affect the course of the war nor NATO’s backing for Kyiv, a spokesperson for the US-led defense alliance said on Thursday.
“Deploying this capability will neither change the course of the conflict nor deter NATO Allies from supporting Ukraine,” said spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah, calling the launch “yet another example of Russia’s attacks against Ukrainian cities.”
 


Putin hints at strikes on West in ‘global’ Ukraine war

Updated 41 min 13 sec ago
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Putin hints at strikes on West in ‘global’ Ukraine war

  • Warns of retaliation after Ukraine’s allies granting permission for Kyiv to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets on Russian territory
  • Putin spoke after Russia test-fired a new generation intermediate-range missile at Ukraine, hinting that was capable of unleashing a nuclear payload
  • Washington saw no need to modify the United States’ own nuclear posture in response, says White House spokesperson

DNIPRO, Ukraine: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the conflict in Ukraine had characteristics of a “global” war and did not rule out strikes on Western countries.
The Kremlin strongman spoke out after a day of frayed nerves, with Russia test-firing a new generation intermediate-range missile at Ukraine — which Putin hinted was capable of unleashing a nuclear payload.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky branded the strike a major ramping up of the “scale and brutality” of the war by a “crazy neighbor,” while Kyiv’s main backer the United States said that Russia was to blame for escalating the conflict “at every turn.”
Intermediate-range missiles typically have a reach of up to 5,500 kilometers (3,400 miles) — enough to make good on Putin’s threat of striking the West.
In a defiant address to the nation, Russia’s president railed at Ukraine’s allies granting permission for Kyiv to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets on Russian territory, warning of retaliation.

 

In recent days Ukraine has fired US and UK-supplied missiles at Russian territory for the first time, escalating already sky-high tensions in the brutal nearly three-year-long conflict.
“We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against the military facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities,” Putin said.
He said the US-sent Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and British Storm Shadow payloads were shot down by Moscow’s air defenses, adding: “The goals that the enemy obviously set were not achieved.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov did, however, say Moscow informed Washington of the missile’s launch half an hour before it was fired through an automatic nuclear de-escalation hotline, in remarks cited in state media.
He earlier said Russia was doing everything to avoid an atomic conflict, having updated its nuclear doctrine this week.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that Washington saw no need to modify the United States’ own nuclear posture in response.

Ukraine had earlier accused Russia of firing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time in history — a claim later downplayed by Washington.
The Ukrainian air force said Moscow had launched the missile as part of a barrage toward Dnipro, where local authorities said an infrastructure facility was hit and two civilians were wounded.
Putin said that Russia had carried out “testing in combat conditions of one of the newest Russian... missile systems” named “Oreshnik.”
Criticizing the global response to the strike — “final proof that Russia definitely does not want peace” — Zelensky warned that other countries could become targets for Putin too.
“It is necessary to urge Russia to a true peace, which is possible only through force,” the Ukrainian leader said in his evening address.
“Otherwise, there will be relentless Russian strikes, threats and destabilization, and not only against Ukraine.”
The attack on Dnipro comes just days after several foreign embassies shuttered temporarily in the Ukrainian capital, citing the threat of a large-scale strike.
“It is another example of reckless behavior from Russia,” a spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters.
The spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Stephane Dujarric, said the new missile’s deployment was “another concerning and worrying development,” warning the war was “going in the wrong direction.”
Yet a US official played down the threat, saying on condition of anonymity that Russia “likely possesses only a handful of these” experimental missiles.

The head of the Dnipropetrovsk region where the city of Dnipro is located said the Russian aerial bombardment damaged a rehabilitation center and several homes, as well as an industrial enterprise.
“Two people were wounded — a 57-year-old man was treated on the scene and a 42-year-old woman was hospitalized,” said the official, Sergiy Lysak.
Russia and Ukraine have escalated their use of long-range missiles in recent days since Washington gave Kyiv permission to use its ATACMS against military targets inside Russia — a long-standing Ukrainian request.
British media meanwhile reported on Wednesday that Kyiv had launched UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles at targets in Russia after being given the green light from London.
With ranges of 300 and 250 kilometers respectively, both missile systems’ reach is far dwarfed by the experimental intermediate-range system fired by Russia.

Russia’s envoy to London on Thursday said that meant Britain was “now directly involved” in the Ukraine war, with Andrei Kelin telling Sky News “this firing cannot happen” without UK and NATO support.
But the White House’s Jean-Pierre countered that it was Russia who was behind the rising tensions, pointing to the reported deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to help Moscow fight off a Ukrainian offensive in Russia’s border Kursk region.
“The escalation at every turn is coming from Russia,” Jean-Pierre said, adding that the United States had warned Moscow against involving “another country in another part of the world” — referring to Pyongyang.


The defense ministry in Moscow said Thursday its air-defense systems had downed two Storm Shadows, without saying whether they had come down on Russian territory or in occupied Ukraine.

Air-launched long-range Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missile, manufactured by MBDA, on displat at the 54th International Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, France, on June 20, 2023. (REUTERS/File Photo)

The missile escalation is coming at a critical moment on the ground for Ukraine, as its defenses buckle under Russian pressure across the sprawling front line.
Russia claimed deeper advances in the war-battered Donetsk region, announcing on Thursday that its forces had captured another village close to Kurakhove, closing in on the town after months of steady advances.
Moscow’s defense ministry said Russian forces had taken the small village of Dalne, five kilometers (three miles) south of Kurakhove.
Lysak, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said that 26 people had been wounded in another strike on the town of Kryvyi Rig, where Zelensky was born.
 


Mali junta appoints general to replace sacked civilian PM

Updated 21 November 2024
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Mali junta appoints general to replace sacked civilian PM

BAMAKO: Mali’s junta has named military officer Gen. Abdoulaye Maiga the new prime minister after sacking civilian Premier Choguel Kokalla Maiga a day earlier following his criticism of the military leaders.

Abdoulaye Maiga had, until now, served as government spokesman in the West African country, which is plagued by extremist and separatist violence and has been led by the military since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021.

“Major General Abdoulaye Maiga is appointed prime minister,” said a decree issued by junta chief Gen. Assimi Goita and read out by the secretary general of the presidency on state television station ORTM.

Abdoulaye Maiga was not in the first group of colonels who overthrew the civilian president in August 2020 and who have since been promoted to generals, but he quickly joined them.

His appointment to replace civilian prime minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga confirms the military’s hold on power.

In June 2022, the junta promised to organize elections and hand over power to civilians by the end of March 2024 but later postponed elections indefinitely. Gen. Maiga will have to form a new government to replace the one sacked on Wednesday, which the junta closely controlled. Some key junta figures, such as Defense Minister Gen. Sadio Camara and Minister of Reconciliation General Ismael Wague, were Cabinet members.