MILWAUKEE: The Republican National Convention has culminated Thursday with former President Donald Trump 's acceptance of the party’s presidential nomination, achieving a comeback four years in the making and anticipated even more in the past week in light of Saturday’s assassination attempt.
Barack Obama has reportedly told allies that he believes Biden, his vice president for eight years, should “seriously consider the viability of his candidacy,” the Washington Post reported.
Several leading Democratic lawmakers have called on the 81-year-old president to drop out in the wake of his disastrous debate performance against Trump last month in which he appeared tired and confused.
Supporters have been lining up all week to applaud the former president for his bravery since Saturday’s assassination bid by a gunman at a Pennsylvania rally.
As some of his loyalists blamed Democrats’ rhetoric for the attack, Trump said he had torn up a more aggressive version of his keynote address in favor of one to “unite our country.”
Some of the delegates at the convention said they were keen to hear from Trump about last weekend’s shock attack that very nearly ended in disaster.
“I’m just grateful we’re going to hear from him,” Teena Horlacher, a 50-year-old convention delegate from Utah, told AFP. “It’s a miracle that his life was spared, and I really believe it was God’s hand.”
Trump has a 90-minute speaking slot, from 9:00 to 10:30 p.m. (0100 to 0230 GMT Friday), according to a source familiar with the schedule.
Also set to address the convention are shirt-ripping 80s wrestling icon Hulk Hogan, and Trump’s longtime friend Dana White who is chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Trump has attended multiple UFC bouts as he seeks to lock in younger male votes.
The schedule notably shows no speaking slot for former first lady Melania Trump, a break from tradition at modern-era US nominating conventions, where spouses routinely take the stage seeking to personalize the candidates.
Trump has seen his polling lead expand since Biden’s dismal debate performance threw his party into chaos.
The Republican campaign has even been talking up Trump’s chances in Democratic strongholds like Minnesota and Virginia, potentially forcing Biden funds and manpower away from defending his “blue wall” in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Trump’s keynote address will be watched by millions, closing the convention by promising what his team calls “a new golden age for America.”
The four-day gathering opened Monday with a vote to confirm Trump as the party’s nominee after he won almost every state’s primary contest.
It has been the first convention over which Trump has had total control, after a 2016 edition hampered by party divisions and a second appearance in 2020 reined in by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The schedule was designed around his image, with themes for each day playing on his “Make America Great Again” rallying cry.
Trump set the tone when he walked slowly into the Fiserv Forum arena on the opening day — looking emotional and with a bandaged ear, just two days after the shooting.
The week also saw Trump name right-wing Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate.
The 39-year-old author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” a best-selling memoir about growing up poor in working-class America, is a former Trump critic who became one of his staunchest backers.
Trump himself was a diminished figure after his 2020 election loss and a subsequent riot at the US Capitol by his supporters, but he has spent much of the last four years reshaping Republican politics.
Installing close allies, including his daughter-in-law Lara Trump on the Republican National Committee, the mercurial tycoon has effectively crushed dissent within the party.
Trump accepts his GOP nomination on the convention’s final night
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Trump accepts his GOP nomination on the convention’s final night
- Trump has seen his polling lead expand since Biden’s dismal debate performance threw his party into chaos
South Korean President Yoon arrested over failed martial law bid
- Earlier more than 3,000 police officers and anti-corruption investigators had gathered there before dawn, pushing through throngs of Yoon supporters and members of his ruling People Power Party protesting attempts to detain him
SEOUL: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested on Wednesday over his failed martial law bid, after hundreds of anti-graft investigators and police raided his residence to end a weeks-long standoff.
Yoon, who was impeached and charged with insurrection over his short-lived effort to impose martial law last month, is the first sitting president in the nation’s history to be arrested.
Hundreds of police officers and investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office had streamed up the driveway to the presidential residence before dawn on Wednesday, some scaling perimeter walls and hiking up back trails to reach the main building.
It was their second effort to arrest Yoon.
A first attempt on January 3 failed after a tense hours-long standoff with members of Yoon’s official Presidential Security Service (PSS), who refused to budge when investigators tried to execute their warrant.
Yoon’s lawyer announced on Wednesday morning the president had agreed to speak to investigators and that he had decided to leave the residence to prevent a “serious incident.”
“President Yoon has decided to personally appear at the Corruption Investigation Office today,” Seok Dong-hyeon said on Facebook, adding that Yoon would also deliver a speech.
But investigators announced shortly after that Yoon had been arrested.
“The Joint Investigation Headquarters executed an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol today (January 15) at 10:33 am (0130 GMT),” they said in a statement.
AFP reporters earlier witnessed brief scuffles at the gate, where Yoon’s die-hard supporters had been camped out to protect him, as authorities first moved on the compound.
Lawmakers from Yoon’s ruling People Power Party also rushed to the area in an apparent bid to defend him, AFP reporters saw.
His supporters were heard chanting “illegal warrant!” while waving glow sticks and South Korean and American flags. Some laid on the ground outside the residential compound’s main gate.
Police and CIO officers began forcibly removing them from the entrance to the residence while around 30 lawmakers from Yoon’s ruling People Power Party also blocked investigators, Yonhap News TV reported.
Yoon’s guards had installed barbed wire and barricades at the residence, turning it into what the opposition called a “fortress.”
Due to the tense situation, police decided not to carry firearms but only to wear bulletproof vests for the new attempt Wednesday, in case they were met by armed guards, local media reported.
Following his arrest, Yoon can be held for up to 48 hours on the existing warrant. Investigators would need to apply for another arrest warrant to keep him in custody.
Yoon’s legal team had repeatedly decried the warrant as illegal.
In a parallel probe, Yoon’s impeachment trial began Tuesday with a brief hearing after he declined to attend.
Although his failure to attend — which his team has blamed on purported safety concerns — forced a procedural adjournment, the hearings will continue without Yoon, with the next set for Thursday.
Australia summons Russian ambassador over reports captured soldier killed
- Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia had been maintaining “a very difficult relationship for many years” with Russia under different governments
SYDNEY: Australia summoned the Russian ambassador over reports a Melbourne man had been killed after being captured by Russia while fighting for Ukraine, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday.
The Australian government had asked Russian authorities to immediately confirm the status of Oscar Jenkins and remained “gravely concerned” over reports that he had been killed, Albanese said during a media conference.
“We’ll await the facts to come out. But if there has been any harm caused to Oscar Jenkins, that’s absolutely reprehensible and the Australian government will take the strongest action possible,” Albanese said.
When asked by a reporter if Australia would expel the Russian ambassador or recall its envoy in Moscow, Albanese said his government would determine its response after verifying all reports.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia had been maintaining “a very difficult relationship for many years” with Russia under different governments.
“We will look at the facts when they have been ascertained but I want to be clear all options are on the table,” Wong told ABC Radio on Wednesday. She said the Russian ambassador was summoned by the foreign ministry earlier this week.
Jenkins, a teacher from Melbourne, was serving alongside Ukraine’s military when he was captured by Russia last year as a prisoner of war, Australian media reported. A video taken at the time showed him, dressed in combat uniform, being asked if he was a mercenary, reports said.
Australia is one of the largest non-NATO contributors to the West’s support for Ukraine and has been supplying aid, ammunition and defense equipment.
It has banned exports of alumina and aluminum ores, including bauxite, to Russia, and has sanctioned about 1,000 Russian individuals and entities.
Irregular migration into the European Union fell sharply last year, border agency says
- The agency said that there were just over 239,000 detections of irregular border crossings, the lowest number registered since 2021, when migration was lower due to the COVID-19 pandemic
WARSAW, Poland: The number of irregular border crossings into the European Union fell significantly in 2024, according to the bloc’s border control agency Frontex, something which it attributed to intensified cooperation against smuggling networks.
The Warsaw-based agency said in a statement that its preliminary data for last year reveal a 38 percent drop in irregular border crossings into the 27-member bloc.
The data refers to the number of detections of irregular border crossing at the external borders of the EU, not the total number of people who tried to cross. In some cases the same erson may cross the border several times in different locations at the external border, Frontex notes.
The agency said that there were just over 239,000 detections of irregular border crossings, the lowest number registered since 2021, when migration was lower due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agency said that despite the overall decrease, challenges persist, including dangerous sea crossings resulting in significant loss of life and the evolving tactics of smuggling networks.
Despite the decrease in irregular arrivals, a sense has taken hold across Europe that there is too much unregulated immigration to the continent.
The issue has dominated political life in Europe since 2015, when more than a million people arrived at once, many fleeing the war in Syria. The issue has boosted far-right parties that strongly oppose accepting large numbers of refugees and migrants — including in places like Austria and Germany.
The decrease in the total number was mainly driven by a 59 percent plunge in arrivals via the Central Mediterranean route due to fewer departures from Tunisia and Libya, Frontex said. It also reported a 78 percent fall in detections on the Western Balkan route following efforts in that region to halt arrivals.
At the same time irregular arrivals were up last year along the EU’s eastern borders with Belarus.
Frontex also said it recorded an 18 percent increase in arrivals to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago close to the African coast that is increasingly used as an alternative stepping stone to continental Europe.
It said the nearly 47,000 arrivals it recorded there marked the highest figure since it began collecting data in 2009.
“While 2024 saw a significant reduction in irregular border crossings, it also highlighted emerging risks and shifting dynamics,” Frontex Executive Director Hans Leijtens said.
The Frontex statement noted that authorities have reported increasing violence by smugglers along the Western Balkan route, while growing instability in regions like the Sahel continues to drive migration toward Europe.
Risks from unregulated tanker fleet rising, UN shipping chief says
- There have been a number of incidents involving collisions and shadow fleet vessels breaking down in recent months
LONDON: The safety risks posed by unregulated oil tankers are rising, and the so-called shadow fleet is a threat to both the maritime environment and seafarers, the head of the United Nations’ shipping agency said on Tuesday.
The shadow fleet refers to hundreds of ships used by Russia to move oil, in violation of international restrictions imposed on it over the Ukraine war, as well as by oil exporters such as Iran and Venezuela hit by US sanctions.
At least 65 oil tankers dropped anchor this week at multiple locations, including off the coasts of China and Russia, since the United States announced a new sanctions package on Jan. 10.
“The risk is growing in relation to the environmental impact and the safety of the seafarers as the shadow fleet grows,” Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), told a news conference.
“We see it by different accidents and events that have taken place.”
Dominguez, who could not comment on sanctions, said his biggest concern was with aging tankers, which were “putting people onboard at risk and the environment as well.”
“The more that ships start looking to ... avoid meeting the IMO requirements, the more that we will have situations like we have been experiencing in the last part of 2024.”
There have been a number of incidents involving collisions and shadow fleet vessels breaking down in recent months.
Dominguez said an IMO meeting would follow up in March on a resolution adopted in 2023 aimed at greater scrutiny of ship-to-ship oil transfers in open seas — a frequent risk with shadow fleet tankers which carry out such transfers with little regard for safety. He said he had also met with smaller flag registry countries, which typically provide flagging for shadow fleet tankers.
Commercial ships must be registered, or flagged, with a particular country to ensure they are complying with internationally recognized safety and environmental rules.
Shipping industry sources say many of the smaller flag registries are lax about enforcing compliance and also sanctions regulations.
“Substandard shipping ...has been on the agenda at IMO for many years,” Dominguez said.
Venezuela restricts diplomats from ‘hostile’ European countries
- On Tuesday, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yvan Gil took to Telegram to accuse the three governments of “support for extremist groups” and “interference in the country’s internal affairs”
CARACAS: Venezuela on Tuesday announced restrictions on French, Italian and Dutch diplomats on its soil, citing their governments’ “hostile” response to Nicolas Maduro’s presidential inauguration, widely rejected as a power grab.
In a move branded an “escalation” by the Dutch government, the foreign ministry announced it would limit the number of accredited diplomats to three for each of the countries.
Those remaining would also need “written authorization... to travel more than 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Plaza Bolivar” in the capital Caracas.
Maduro, 62, is embroiled in a standoff with the West and several Latin American countries over his disputed claim to have won another six year-term in July 28 elections he is widely accused of stealing.
The United States, European Union, G7 and several democratic neighbors have refused to recognize his reelection, and France, Italy and the Netherlands last week loudly condemned Maduro’s administration.
On Tuesday, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yvan Gil took to Telegram to accuse the three governments of “support for extremist groups” and “interference in the country’s internal affairs.”
Within 48 hours, he said, the embassies must each reduce to three their number of accredited diplomats.
Due to the new travel restrictions, any trip outside the capital will now require a government permit. The international airport, Simon Bolivar, which serves Caracas, is 23 kilometers from the Plaza Bolivar.
“Venezuela demands respect for sovereignty and self-determination... especially from those subordinated to the directives of Washington,” wrote Gil.
Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp replied that this “escalation” by Maduro “will make dialogue all the more complicated.”
In a statement to AFP, he added there would “certainly be a response.”
The opposition says its tally of results from the July vote showed a clear victory for its candidate, 75-year-old Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who went into exile in Spain in September after first taking refuge at the Dutch embassy.
Venezuela’s CNE electoral council, loyal to the regime, had announced victory for Maduro within hours of polls closing. It never provided a detailed vote breakdown.
In a sign of Maduro’s isolation, only two prominent regional leaders — Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Nicaraguan ex-guerrilla Daniel Ortega — attended his inauguration. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his congratulations and China’s Xi Jinping sent a special envoy.
Washington and London promptly issued a bevy of sanctions on Maduro’s regime for staging what the opposition called a coup.
Critics denounced a fresh crackdown on opponents and critics in the lead-up to Friday’s swearing-in ceremony, with several activists and opposition figures detained.
More than 2,400 people were arrested, 28 killed and about 200 injured in protests that erupted after Maduro disputed claim to election victory.
He has since maintained a fragile peace with the help of the security forces and paramilitary “colectivos” — armed civilian volunteers accused of quelling protest through a reign of neighborhood terror.
French President Emmanuel Macron last week insisted “the will of the Venezuelan people must be respected” in a call with Gonzalez Urrutia, recognized by several countries as the legitimate president-elect.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni denounced “another unacceptable act of repression by the Maduro regime” after opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was briefly detained at an anti-Maduro rally on the eve of his inauguration.
And Veldkamp, writing on X, had expressed deep “respect” for Machado and voiced concern about the “increased violent rhetoric of the Maduro regime and reports of recent arrests.”
In office since 2013, the former bus driver and trade unionist has clung to power through a mix of populism and repression, even as the United States imposed punishing sanctions on the key oil sector and the economy imploded.
