MILWAUKEE: Two days after surviving an attempted assassination, former President Donald Trump appeared triumphantly at the Republican National Convention’s opening night with a bandage over his right ear, the latest compelling scene in a presidential campaign already defined by dramatic turns.
GOP delegates cheered wildly when Trump appeared onscreen backstage and then emerged in the arena, visibly emotional, as musician Lee Greenwood sang “God Bless the USA.” That was hours after the convention had formally nominated the former president to head the Republican ticket in November against President Joe Biden.
Trump did not address the hall — with his acceptance speech scheduled for Thursday — but smiled silently and occasionally waved as Greenwood sang. He eventually joined his newly announced running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, to listen to the night’s remaining speeches, often with a subdued expression and muted reactions uncharacteristic for the unabashed showman
The raucous welcome underscored the depth of the crowd’s affection for the man who won the 2016 nomination as an outsider, at odds with the party establishment, but now has vanquished all Republican rivals, silenced most GOP critics and commands loyalty up and down the party ranks.
“We must unite as a party, and we must unite as a nation,” said Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley, Trump’s handpicked party leader, as he opened Monday’s primetime national convention session. “We must show the same strength and resilience as President Trump and lead this nation to a greater future.”
But Whatley and other Republican leaders made clear that their calls for harmony did not extend to Biden and Democrats, who find themselves still riven by worries that the 81-year-old question is not up to the job of defeating Trump.
“Their policies are a clear and present danger to America, to our institutions, our values and our people,” said Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, welcoming the party to his battleground state, which Trump won in 2016 but lost to Biden four years ago.
Saturday’s shooting at a Pennsylvania rally, where Trump was injured and one man died, were clearly in mind, but the proceedings were celebratory — a stark contrast to the anger and anxiety that had marked the previous few days. Some delegates chanted “fight, fight, fight” — the same words that Trump was seen shouting to the crowd as the Secret Service ushered him off the stage, his fist raised and face bloodied.
“We should all be thankful right now that we are able to cast our votes for President Donald J. Trump after what took place on Saturday,” said New Jersey state Sen. Michael Testa as he announced all of his state’s 12 delegates for Trump.
When Trump cleared the necessary number of delegates, video screens in the arena read “OVER THE TOP” while the song “Celebration” played and delegates danced and waved Trump signs. Throughout the voting, delegates flanked by “Make America Great Again” signs applauded as state after state voted their support for a second Trump term.
Multiple speakers invoked religious imagery to discuss Trump and the assassination attempt.
“The devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle,” said Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina. “But an American lion got back up on his feet!”
Wyoming delegate Sheryl Foland was among those who adopted the “fight” chant after seeing Trump survive Saturday in what she called “monumental photos and video.”
“We knew then we were going to adopt that as our chant,” added Foland, a child trauma mental health counselor. “Not just because we wanted him to fight, and that God was fighting for him. We thought, isn’t it our job to accept that challenge and fight for our country?”
“It’s bigger than Trump,” Foland said. “It’s a mantra for our country.”
Another well-timed development boosted the mood on the convention floor Monday: The federal judge presiding over Trump’s classified documents case dismissed the prosecution because of concerns over the appointment of the prosecutor who brought the case, handing the former president a major court victory.
The convention is designed to reach people outside the GOP base
Trump’s campaign chiefs designed the convention to feature a softer and more optimistic message, focusing on themes that would help a divisive leader expand his appeal among moderate voters and people of color.
On a night devoted to the economy, delegates and a national TV audience heard from speakers the Trump campaign pitched as “everyday Americans” — a single mother talking about inflation, a union member who identified himself as a lifelong Democrat now backing Trump, a small business owner, among others.
Featured speakers also included Black Republicans who have been at the forefront of the Trump campaign’s effort to win more votes from a core Democratic constituency.
US Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas said rising grocery and energy prices were hurting Americans’ wallets and quoted Ronald Reagan in calling inflation “the cruelest tax on the poor.” Hunt argued Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t seem to understand the problem.
“We can fix this disaster,” Hunt said, by electing Trump and sending “him right back to where he belongs, the White House.”
Scott, perhaps the party’s most well-known Black lawmaker, declared: “America is not a racist country.”
Republicans hailed Vance’s selection as a key step toward a winning coalition in November.
Trump announced his choice of his running mate as delegates were voting on the former president’s nomination Monday. The young Ohio senator first rose to national attention with his best-selling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which told of his Appalachian upbringing and was hailed as a window into the parts of working-class America that helped propel Trump.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who had been considered a potential vice presidential pick, said in a post on X that Vance’s “small town roots and service to country make him a powerful voice for the America First Agenda.”
Yet despite calls for harmony, two of the opening speakers at Monday’s evening session — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and North Carolina gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson — are known as some of the party’s most incendiary figures.
Robinson, speaking recently during a church service in North Carolina, discussed “evil” people who he said threatened American Christianity. “Some folks need killing,” he said then, though he steered clear of such rhetoric at the convention stage.
The campaign continues
Trump’s nomination came on the same day that Biden sat for another national TV interview the president sought to demonstrate his capacity to serve another four years despite continued worries within his own party.
Biden told ABC News that he made a mistake recently when he told Democratic donors the party must stop questioning his fitness for office and instead put Trump in a “bullseye.” Republicans have circulated the comment aggressively since Saturday’s assassination attempt, with some openly blaming Biden for inciting the attack on Trump’s life.
The president’s admission was in line with his call Sunday from the Oval Office for all Americans to ratchet down political rhetoric. But Biden maintained Monday that drawing contrasts with Trump, who employs harsh and accusatory language, is a legitimate part of a presidential contest.
Inside the arena in Milwaukee, Republicans did not dial back their attacks on Biden, at one point playing a video that mocked the president’s physical stamina and mental acuity.
They alluded often to the “Biden-Harris administration” and took regular digs at Vice President Kamala Harris — a not-so-subtle allusion to the notion that Biden could step aside in favor of his second-in-command.
Trump, ear bandaged, appears at Republican National Convention
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Trump, ear bandaged, appears at Republican National Convention
EU says irregular crossings into bloc last year lowest since 2021
Warsaw-based Frontex, which regularly publishes statistics on irregular entries into the EU, said last year's preliminary data revealed "a significant 38-percent drop" in crossings.
The agency said in a statement the numbers were at "the lowest level since 2021, when migration was still affected by the COVID pandemic".
Frontex said the decrease in undocumented asylum seekers was mainly driven by a plunge in arrivals through the Central Mediterranean and the Western Balkans routes.
"Despite persistent migration pressure, intensified EU and partner cooperation against smuggling networks has significantly reduced crossings at Europe's external borders," Frontex said.
Overall, in 2024 the agency saw over 239,000 irregular entries into the EU.
The biggest fall was registered along the route through the Western Balkans, a 78-percent drop that Frontex attributed to "strong efforts by regional countries to stem the flow".
Irregular entries detected via the Central Mediterranean fell by 59 percent due to "fewer departures from Tunisia and Libya", Frontex said.
Despite the decrease, the route still accounted for about 67,000 crossings, the second highest among all routes after the Eastern Mediterranean route, it added.
Other routes used by undocumented asylum seekers, however, saw sharp increases.
The Canary Islands registering an 18-percent rise in arrivals to almost 47,000, the highest figure since Frontex began collecting data in 2009.
This was "fuelled by departures from Mauritania", Frontex said, adding that "flows from other departure points declined".
Spain has moved to the forefront of the European Union's migration flow as tighter controls in the Mediterranean push more asylum seekers to attempt the perilous trip from West Africa to the Canaries.
The agency also said a "threefold" rise in detections was registered at the EU's eastern land borders, including at Poland's border with Belarus.
EU states along the bloc's eastern edge have accused Russia and its ally Belarus of pushing thousands of migrants over their borders in recent years as part of a campaign to destabilise Europe.
In December, the EU said that member states bordering Russia and Belarus could limit the right to asylum for migrants in the event of their "weaponisation" by Moscow and Minsk.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last month the right to asylum "is being used today -- especially on the border with Belarus -- by Poland's enemies".
Commenting on the latest figures, Frontex's executive director Hans Leijtens said that 2024 "highlighted emerging risks and shifting dynamics".
The agency said these involve smuggling networks adapting to new circumstances and rapidly shifting migration flows.
It also warned against "increasing violence" by smugglers along the Western Balkans route.
Trump would have been convicted if he wasn’t elected: special counsel report
WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump would have been convicted for his alleged effort to overturn the 2020 election result if he hadn’t been elected four years later, said a report by then special counsel Jack Smith released early Tuesday.
The US Department of Justice’s “view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a President is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Office stands fully behind,” the report said.
“Indeed, but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the Presidency, the (Special Counsel’s) Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.”
Trump, who returns to the White House on January 20, had been accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding — the session of Congress called to certify President Joe Biden’s election win but which was violently attacked on January 6, 2021 by a mob of the Republican’s supporters.
Smith, who was special counsel appointed to investigate Trump, dropped the federal criminal case against the incoming leader after he won November’s presidential election.
Soon after the report’s overnight release, Trump hit back on his Truth Social platform, calling Smith “deranged,” and adding that he “was unable to successfully prosecute the Political Opponent of his ‘boss’.”
“To show you how desperate Deranged Jack Smith is, he released his Fake findings at 1:00 A.M. in the morning,” Trump added in another post.
Trump’s attorneys had earlier urged US Attorney General Merrick Garland not to release the report, calling the plan to release it “unlawful, undertaken in bad faith, and contrary to the public interest.”
2020 ELECTION
Smith’s report details Trump’s alleged efforts to persuade state-level Republican lawmakers and leaders to “change the results” of the 2020 election.
“Mr. Trump contacted state legislators and executives, pressured them with false claims of election fraud in their states, and urged them to take action to ignore the vote counts and change the results,” according to the report released by the Department of Justice.
“Significantly, he made election claims only to state legislators and executives who shared his political affiliation and were his political supporters, and only in states that he had lost,” it added.
In addition, the report alleges Trump and co-conspirators planned to organize individuals who would have served as his electors, if he had won the popular vote, in seven states where he lost — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — “and cause them to sign and send to Washington false certifications claiming to be the legitimate electors.”
They ultimately “used the fraudulent certificates to try to obstruct the congressional certification proceeding,” the report says.
The special counsel office concluded that “Trump’s conduct violated several federal criminal statutes and that the admissible evidence would be sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction.”
Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed a separate case against the former and future president last year — over Trump’s handling of top secret documents after leaving the White House — but charges are still pending against two of his former co-defendants.
Smith left the justice department last week, days after submitting his final report as special counsel.
In another case, a judge sentenced Trump to an unconditional discharge on Friday for covering up hush money payments to a porn star despite the US president-elect’s last-ditch efforts to avoid becoming the first felon in the White House.
‘Survival mode’ for families displaced by Ethiopia quakes
AWASH: Under a makeshift shelter, Moussa Akele kills time chewing the stimulant khat, wondering where his family will get its next meal after fleeing a series of earthquakes that have shaken several regions of Ethiopia.
The 40-year-old was at home in Kabanna in the Afar region, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of the capital Addis Ababa, when an earthquake struck in late December.
“It caused widespread panic and destroyed our houses. People were terrified,” he said.
Ethiopia’s Rift Valley is one of the most seismically active regions in the world.
For several weeks, frequent tremors, including one measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale, have been shaking the rural regions of Afar and Oromia.
There are fears they could cause a major dam to collapse or lead to the eruption of a volcano, Mount Dofan, so the authorities have evacuated tens of thousands of people.
Akele, who worked in a sugar factory, found refuge with his family about 20 km from Kabanna. Like several thousand others, they now live in a tent pitched in the middle of arid vegetation.
“We were evacuated from our good and peaceful life and are now living in survival mode,” he said.
Trucks loaded with water and food arrive regularly, “but there are a lot of people and it’s not enough,” he added.
Most of the displaced are pastoralists, who had to leave their livestock behind.
Under a blazing sun and amid dust clouds caused by the trucks, several dozen women and children queue with jerry cans. Fights occasionally break out in the desperation.
Assea Ali didn’t have time to take anything with her.
“We fled for our lives,” said the 26-year-old mother of two.
“This is the condition we are living in now,” she added, pointing to a small tent and sighing: “I have no hope.”
On a small hill overlooking the camp, a health center has been set up by local authorities.
Several women rush in as soon as it opens, most to weigh their young children.
“Until the government and support agencies like UNICEF or the World Health Organization intervene, we are helping people with the resources we have,” said Abokar Hassan, 24, a health response officer.
He estimates between 200 and 300 people see him each day, mainly to prevent the spread of cholera.
According to the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Ethiopian authorities have evacuated more than 60,000 people living in high-risk areas, including some near a dam.
“A comprehensive humanitarian response is under way, but significant gaps remain,” OCHA said in a statement on Saturday.
The region is known to be a “volcanic, tectonic zone,” Cecile Doubre, a seismologist at the Strasbourg School and Observatory of Earth Sciences and a specialist in Afar, told AFP.
“There has been no eruption yet, but there is a spread of magma under the earth’s crust, between zero and 15 km. It is spreading in a large fissure, about 50 km long,” she added. “It’s a major geological event.”
Some sections of the road bear the scars of seismic activity, with the track to Kabanna partially collapsed.
In the city, there is a heavy silence, broken only by the lowing of oxen wandering the deserted streets amid several destroyed houses and businesses.
Despite the situation, Akele remains hopeful.
“The fear and uncertainty we are experiencing now are temporary, and we must not let them make us despair,” he said.
Ukraine strikes Russia in major drone and missile attack — Russian media
- Dozens of Ukrainian drones attack Russian regions
- Reports of emergency sirens at major refinery
MOSCOW: Ukraine struck Russian regions with a major drone and missile attack overnight, damaging at least two factories and forcing schools to close in a major southern Russian city, according to Russian officials and media.
The Shot Telegram channel said that Russia had downed more than 200 Ukrainian drones and five US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles.
“The enemy has organized a massive combined strike on the territory of the Russian regions,” the Two Majors war blogger said.
Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region in western Russia, said Ukraine had launched a major missile attack but did not say which missiles had been used.
The Russian defense ministry, which reports on such attacks, made no immediate comment. Reuters was unable to immediately confirm the reports.
In the Russian city of Engels, home to an air base where Russia’s nuclear bombers are based, Saratov Governor Roman Busargin said an industrial enterprise had been damaged by a drone but gave no more details.
Busargin said that classes in schools in Saratov and Engels would be held remotely. Flight restrictions were imposed in Kazan, Saratov, Penza, Ulyanovsk and Nizhnekamsk, Russia’s aviation watchdog said.
Nizhnekamsk, in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan, is home to the major Taneco refinery. Shot said attack sirens were sounded at the refinery. Reuters was unable to immediately verify the report.
Russia fired a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as “Oreshnik,” or Hazel Tree, at Ukraine on Nov. 21 in what President Vladimir Putin said was a direct response to strikes on Russia by Ukrainian forces with US and British missiles.
Putin, after those attacks, said that the Ukraine war was escalating toward a global conflict after the United States and Britain allowed Ukraine to hit Russia with their weapons, and warned the West that Moscow could strike back.
President-elect Donald Trump has pushed for a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war quickly, leaving Washington’s long-term support for Ukraine in question.
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has left tens of thousands of dead, displaced millions and triggered the biggest crisis in relations between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
North Korea fires short-range ballistic missiles before Trump return
SEOUL: North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles into the sea Tuesday, according to Seoul’s military, in what experts said could be a message to US President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
The launch comes as Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya visits South Korea for a series of meetings with top officials, with the Asian neighbors seeking to boost bilateral ties before Trump returns to office next week.
“The South Korean military detected several short-range ballistic missiles fired into the East Sea,” Seoul’s military said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.
It said the launch took place around 9:30 am (0030 GMT) near North Korea’s Ganggye area, with the missiles flying 250 kilometers (155 miles) before landing in the sea.
“The intelligence authorities of South Korea and the US have detected and monitored North Korea’s missile launch preparations in advance, and immediately detected and tracked them at the time of launch,” the military said.
It said it was maintaining “full readiness” and sharing information with the United States and Japan while “strengthening surveillance and alertness” for more launches.
Seoul’s acting President Choi Sang-mok slammed the launch, saying it violated UN Security Council resolutions.
“Seoul will respond more strongly to North Korea’s provocations based on its strong security posture and alliance with the US,” he said.
Experts said the latest launch could be intended as a message to the incoming Trump administration.
“It could be aimed at the US,” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
“It may indicate an intention to put pressure ahead of the Trump administration’s second term.”
ASSERT PRESENCE
Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies, told AFP the test launch “appears to be an intention to assert presence ahead of the Trump administration.”
He said it could also be aimed at “destabilising South Korea during Seoul’s own period of turmoil,” as suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol faces an impeachment trial that begins Tuesday in the Constitutional Court after a failed martial law bid last month.
Relations between the two Koreas have been at one of their lowest points in years, with the North launching a flurry of ballistic missiles last year in violation of UN sanctions.
The Tuesday launch is Pyongyang’s second this year, after it fired last week what it said was a new hypersonic missile system.
The location of the test site was undisclosed but images released by North Korean state media KCNA showed leader Kim Jong Un observing last week’s launch with his teenage daughter Ju Ae.
KCNA cited the use of a “new compound of carbon fiber” in the missile’s engine, which experts warned could allow Pyongyang to hit further targets with technology to which only the United States, Russia and China currently have access.
Last week’s alleged hypersonic missile launch came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting South Korea.
While in Seoul, Blinken said Russia was increasing cooperation with Pyongyang, adding they were working ever more closely on advanced space technology.
Ahn said another reason for Tuesday’s launch may be the testing of “missiles for export to Russia to be used in Ukraine.”
RUSSIAN SUPPORT
Blinken also voiced renewed concern that Russia, a veto-wielding UN Security Council member, would formally accept North Korea as a nuclear state in a blow to global consensus that Pyongyang must end its program.
In late October, North Korea test-fired what it said was its most advanced and powerful solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Days later, it fired a salvo of short-range ballistic missiles.
US and South Korean intelligence also believe that North Korea in October started to send thousands of troops to fight against Ukraine and has since suffered hundreds of casualties.
But neither North Korea nor Russia has officially confirmed that Pyongyang’s forces are fighting for Moscow.
On Monday, a South Korean lawmaker said around 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and 2,700 wounded while fighting in Russia’s war against Ukraine, citing information from Seoul’s spy agency.
Over the weekend Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had captured two North Korean soldiers, releasing video of the injured combatants being interrogated.
