World’s path to peace should no longer be blocked by one or two countries, Kuwait’s ambassador to UN tells Arab News

Decades of debate on reforming the Security Council culminated last week in a pact that commits member states to implementing long-demanded changes. (AFP)
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Updated 29 September 2024
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World’s path to peace should no longer be blocked by one or two countries, Kuwait’s ambassador to UN tells Arab News

  • Tareq AlBanai highlights problem of ability of single veto-wielding UNSC permanent member to obstruct action even when majority supports a motion
  • Landmark Pact for the Future adopted this week at 79th UNGA session commits world leaders to reform Security Council to better reflect today’s realities

NEW YORK: Decades of debate on reforming the UN Security Council reached what some are calling a turning point this week with the adoption of a “groundbreaking” pact that commits member states to implementing long-demanded changes.

For Tareq AlBanai, Kuwait’s permanent representative to the UN, the pact was the culmination of two years of work built on the belief that no single member state should be able to obstruct action on a matter of global urgency.

Since 2022, AlBanai and Austria’s ambassador to the UN have spearheaded the inter-governmental negotiations to reform the Security Council, whose five permanent members have retained their veto power since the UN’s formation in 1945.




Tareq AlBanai, Kuwait’s permanent representative to the UN. (KUNA photo)

AlBanai described his time co-chairing the inter-governmental negotiations on Security Council reforms as a “labor of love.”

“The Security Council is the only body charged with the maintenance of international peace and security,” he told Arab News. “It is the cornerstone of the multilateral system and the UN when it comes to peace and security. The everyday man around the world — when he thinks of the UN, he thinks of the Security Council.

“And when we see the Security Council unable to act on the most pressing situations around the world that threaten international peace and security, you lose faith in this institution.

“And that is not a good thing. It is the only, truly, universal, multilateral system that we have.”

The mounting calls to reform the council are decades in the making.

Countries such as India, Brazil, Germany and Japan have renewed their appeal for permanent seats to better reflect the geopolitical realities of the 21st century. Meanwhile, the Permanent 5 members (US, UK, France, Russia and China) have urged caution, highlighting the need for “consensus and stability.”

UN SecurityCouncil Members

Permanent members

• China

• France

• Russia

• United Kingdom

• United States

Non-permanent members elected every 2 years

(Until 2024)

• Ecuador

• Japan

• Malta

• Mozambique

• Switzerland

(Until 2025)

• Algeria

• Guyana

• South Korea

• Slovenia

• Sierra Leone

* Elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly

(Source: UN.Org)

The intergovernmental negotiations led by Kuwait and Austria have included discussions on regional representation, the criteria for new permanent members and the balance of power within the Security Council.

“A reformed Security Council, in my opinion, needs to be a place where we can secure collective action through the collective understanding of the members,” AlBanai said.

“No member state should have the ability to stop the majority of the world from taking decisive action on any matter at hand.

“And if they decide to use a prerogative, then there must be ways that we can, as an international community, through the General Assembly or through any other mechanisms we agree on in the future, find an alternative path.

“The path to peace cannot be (stymied) by one, two or even three member states when the majority of the world believes that the way forward is in a specific manner.”

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The Pact for the Future — adopted this week at the 79th session of UN General Assembly after nine months of negotiations — offers a consensus vision for cooperation among countries in tackling challenges ranging from climate and artificial intelligence to escalating conflicts and increasing inequality and poverty.

But, more importantly for those eying Security Council reform, the pact also commits world leaders to reform the 15-member organ to better reflect today’s world, “redress the historical injustice against Africa,” which has no permanent seat, and correct the underrepresentation of the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America.

Austria and Kuwait led the negotiations on council reform with vigor, holding a series of televised debates on the topic. Alongside discussions on the main pact, UN members hosted isolated Security Council reform talks, recognizing that the topic could complicate agreements on other issues included in the document.

Guy Ryder, the UN’s under secretary-general for policy, called the language in the pact “groundbreaking,” highlighting the commitment to develop a consolidated model of Security Council reform.

“Now, this might sound rather esoteric, and this would be one of the most difficult things to explain to the person in the street, but for those engaged in this type of process since the 1960s, and the co-facilitators of negotiations, Austria and Kuwait, this is groundbreaking language,” Ryder told Arab News.




Guy Ryder, the UN’s under secretary-general for policy. (un.org photo)

AlBanai agreed, highlighting the avenue to substantial reform that the pact has opened.

“Is it groundbreaking? Well, it’s the first time since 1963 that we have a commitment at the head of state and government level to further enhance the Security Council,” he said, calling for a council that is representative, transparent, effective, inclusive, democratic and accountable.

This is essential for the operation of a functioning multilateral system, according to Al-Banai.

“If we can manage through this process to enhance not only the capacity of the Security Council, but the actual shape, form and actions of the council by increasing its membership, by making it more representative of the world we live in today in 2024, and not the world of 1945, then we have achieved something,” he said.

With only the first step on a long journey ahead having been taken, AlBanai is acutely aware that reform has been a painstakingly slow process.

In the months after the UN was founded in 1945, some member states had already recognized the need for a more flexible Security Council. It was only in the late 1970s that some brought the issue of council reform to the attention of the General Assembly.

Yet substantial progress has remained elusive. One of the most significant barriers to reform has been the frequent turnover of diplomats and experts at the UN, which can stifle continuity in discussions.

To address this, AlBanai and his co-chair, Austrian Ambassador Alexander Marschik, prioritized transparency in negotiations.




Austrian Ambassador to the United Nations Alexander Marschik. (AFP/File)

Through initiatives like webcasting meetings and creating a comprehensive repository of documents, they aimed to make the reform process accessible to a broader audience, including NGOs and academic institutions. That decision has opened the doors for new stakeholders to engage with the reform process, fostering a more inclusive atmosphere for discussion.

One of the most controversial results of the Security Council’s existing format has been the increasingly liberal use of veto power by some permanent members.

In recent years, lone members of the P5 have paralyzed and undermined the credibility of the council, in a pattern that risks damaging the reputation of the entire organization, according to representatives from a wide spectrum of countries. 

AlBanai highlighted the troubling reality of a single veto-wielding permanent member being able to obstruct action, even when the majority of the council supports a motion.

This gridlock has been most evident in discussions surrounding the war in Gaza, with repeated vetoes preventing meaningful action on a ceasefire and urgent humanitarian issues.

“(The veto’s) use or misuse have been a central focus of member states because, unfortunately, one member, or a combination of members, with that ability can stop the movement of the wider international community toward addressing an issue as important as the genocide currently happening in Gaza or any other matter that is under consideration in the Security Council,” AlBanai said.




In this photo taken on December 8, 2023, Ambassador Robert A. Wood, US alternate representative for special political affairs in the United Nations, raises his hand to veto a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. (AFP)

While many member states advocate for the abolition of the veto, such a change is complex, requiring the agreement of the existing veto holders, he added.

“It’s unrealistic to expect that the current P5 will agree to eliminate their own power.”

To sidestep this quandary, discussions have shifted toward giving new permanent members — should they be added — veto power, but the proposal has proved contentious among member states.

Those in opposition argue for the need to reduce veto use entirely, with calls to ban use of the veto power in cases of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

There remains broad support, however, for expanding council membership, in both permanent and non-permanent categories, and for unrepresented or underrepresented regions and continents, such as Africa and Asia, to have a “meaningful seat” at the table. 

One notable development in the reform discussions came in the form of a recent US proposal to add two permanent seats for Africa in the council, though without veto power.

“What I like about the American proposal is that it invites conversation,” said AlBanai, highlighting the importance of moving from abstract discussion to concrete action.

As part of their efforts, Kuwait and Austria introduced “model discussions,” which invited member states and country blocs to present their models of a reformed Security Council.

“That allows the opportunity to move from a conceptual kind of conversation into an actual, almost 3D conversation, where member states sit at the podium with the co-chairs and present, and then all other member states are given the opportunity to actually ask questions and to, if you will, poke holes in this model,” said AlBanai.

He welcomed the US proposal as a positive step and encouraged other member states to do the same: “The Americans have moved from one African member to now two African members. Maybe they’ll move to two permanent African members with a veto in the future. Who knows? But we have to have that conversation, and we have to inject new blood into it.”


READ MORE: 

• UN Security Council must reform to ‘reflect realities of modern world’: Kuwait crown prince

• UN Security Council falls short of meeting aspirations, says Arab League chief

 Saudi FM calls for UN reform

 Bahrain supports UN reform that ‘reflects current geopolitical realities’: Crown prince

• Reform of UN can ‘give Africa a voice,’ Mauritanian president says

• Algerian FM calls for UN reform to meet ‘dangers lurking all over the world’


The discussions on UNSC reform have also included a focus on regional representation.

One longstanding proposal that has been almost universally accepted is adding a permanent seat for the Arab world, which has long been advocated by the Arab League.

Cross Regional Groups have also introduced the idea of permanent seats for themselves, such as Small Island Developing States, known as SIDS, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

“We have to consider these ideas,” said AlBanai.

“I don’t know what the criteria is. Is it the number of agenda items that are discussed in the Security Council? Is it your population? Is it the fact that you have the biggest army? The biggest economy? Could it be the number of international treaties that you’ve signed? Your compliance with international law? There are so many criteria out there, and the discussions should help us narrow in on who is deserving of this seat and how that could be in the future.

“But, surely, the most important thing is that we have a Security Council that reflects the realities of today.”
 

 


How Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s alleged bribery scheme took off and unraveled

Updated 7 sec ago
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How Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s alleged bribery scheme took off and unraveled

  • Gautam Adani allegedly tried to bribe local officials in India to persuade them to buy electricity produced by his renewable energy company Adani Green Energy
  • The allegations caught the attention of US watchdog agencies as Adani’s companies were raising funds from US-based investors in several transactions starting in 2021

NEW YORK: In June of 2020, a renewable energy company owned by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani won what it called the single largest solar development bid ever awarded: an agreement to supply 8 gigawatts of electricity to a state-owned power company.
But there was a problem. Local power companies did not want to pay the prices the state company was offering, jeopardizing the deal, according to US authorities. To save the deal, Adani allegedly decided to bribe local officials to persuade them to buy the electricity.
That allegation is at the heart of US criminal and civil charges unsealed on Wednesday against Adani, who is not currently in US custody and is believed to be in India. His company, Adani Group, said the charges were “baseless” and that it would seek “all possible legal recourse.”
The alleged hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes promised to local Indian officials caught the attention of the US Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission as Adani’s companies were raising funds from US-based investors in several transactions starting in 2021.
This account of how the alleged scheme unfolded is drawn from federal prosecutors’ 54-page criminal indictment of Adani and seven of his associates and two parallel civil SEC complaints, which extensively cite electronic messages between the scheme’s alleged participants.
In early 2020, the Solar Energy Corporation of India awarded Adani Green Energy and another company, Azure Power Global, contracts for a 12-gigawatt solar energy project, expected to yield billions of dollars in revenue for both companies, according to the indictment.
It was a major step forward for Adani Green Energy, run by Adani’s nephew, Sagar Adani. Up until that point, the company had only earned roughly $50 million in its history and had yet to turn a profit, according to the SEC complaint.
But the initiative soon hit roadblocks. Local state electricity distributors were reluctant to commit to buying the new solar power, expecting prices to fall in the future, according to an April 7, 2021 report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, a think tank.
Sagar Adani and the Azure CEO at the time discussed the delays and hinted at bribes on the encrypted messaging application WhatsApp, according to the SEC.
When the Azure CEO wrote on Nov. 24, 2020, that the local power companies “are being motivated,” Sagar Adani allegedly replied, “Yup ... but the optics are very difficult to cover. In February 2021, Sagar Adani allegedly wrote to the CEO, “Just so you know, we have doubled the incentives to push for these acceptances.”
The SEC did not name the Azure CEO as a defendant, but Azure’s securities filings show the CEO at the time was Ranjit Gupta.
Gupta was charged by the Justice Department with conspiracy to violate an anti-bribery law. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Azure said on Thursday it was cooperating with the US investigations, and that the individuals involved with the accusations had left the company more than a year ago.

‘Sudden good fortune’
In August of 2021, Gautam Adani had the first of several meetings with an official in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, to whom he allegedly ultimately promised $228 million in bribes in exchange for agreeing to have the state buy the power, according to the Justice Department’s indictment.
By December, Andhra Pradesh had agreed to buy the power, and other states with smaller contracts soon followed. Other states’ officials were promised bribes as well, US authorities said.
During a Dec. 6, 2021 meeting at a coffee shop, Azure executives allegedly discussed “rumors that the Adanis had somehow facilitated signing” of the deals, according to the SEC.
Gautam Adani said on Dec. 14, 2021, the company was on track “to become the world’s largest renewables player by 2030.”
“The sudden good fortune for Azure and Adani Green prompted speculation in the marketplace about the contract awards,” the SEC wrote in its complaint.

Letter from the SEC
Before long, the SEC began to probe. The agency sent a “general inquiry” letter to Azure — which at the time traded on the New York Stock Exchange — on March 17, 2022, asking about its recent contracts and if foreign officials had sought anything of value, according to the Justice Department indictment.
According to the Department of Justice, Gautam Adani told representatives of Azure during a meeting in his Ahmedabad, India office the next month that he expected to be reimbursed more than $80 million for the bribes he had paid officials that ultimately benefited Azure’s contracts.
Some Azure representatives and a leading investor in the company decided to pay Adani back by allowing his company to take over a potentially profitable project. The representatives and investor allegedly agreed to tell Azure’s board of directors that Adani had requested bribe money, but hid their role in the scheme, prosecutors said.
All the while, Adani’s companies were raising billions of dollars in loans and bonds through international banks, including from US investors. In four separate fundraising transactions between 2021 and 2024, the companies sent investors documents indicating that they had not paid bribes — statements prosecutors say are false and constitute fraud.

FBI search
During a visit to the United States on March 17, 2023, FBI agents seized Sagar Adani’s electronic devices. The agents handed him a search warrant from a judge indicating that the US government was investigating potential violations of fraud statutes and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
According to prosecutors, Gautam Adani emailed himself photographs of each page of the search warrant on March 18, 2023.
His companies nonetheless went through with a $1.36 billion syndicated loan agreement on Dec. 5, 2023, and another sale of secured notes in March 2024, and once again furnished investors with misleading information about their anti-bribery practices, according to prosecutors.
On Oct. 24, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn secured a secret grand jury indictment against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, Gupta, and five others allegedly involved in the scheme.
The indictment was unsealed on Nov. 20, prompting a $27 billion plunge in Adani Group companies’ market value. Adani Green Energy promptly canceled a scheduled $600 million bond sale.
 


World leaders split as ICC issues arrest warrant for Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. (Reuters/File)
Updated 9 min 20 sec ago
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World leaders split as ICC issues arrest warrant for Netanyahu

  • Palestinian Authority said the decision ‘represents hope and confidence in international law’
  • Spain, Italy said they would follow the ruling as Biden called the warrents ‘outrageous’

PARIS: Israel and its allies denounced the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even as Turkiye — and rights groups — welcomed the move.
The court also issued warrants for Israel’s former defense minister as well as Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif.
They were issued in response to accusations of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza, set off by the militant Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack.
“The anti-Semitic decision of the International Criminal Court is comparable to the modern-day Dreyfus trial — and it will end in the same way,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
He was referring to the 19th-century Alfred Dreyfus affair in which a Jewish army captain was wrongly convicted of treason in France before being exonerated.
“The ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement.
“Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”
Argentina “declares its deep disagreement” with the decision, which “ignores Israel’s legitimate right to self-defense against the constant attacks by terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah,” President Javier Milei posted on social media platform X.
“(It’s) an important step toward justice and can lead to redress for the victims in general, but it remains limited and symbolic if it is not supported by all means by all countries around the world,” Hamas political bureau member Bassem Naim said of the warrants against Israeli politicians.
“It is not a political decision,” said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, speaking during a visit to Jordan.
“It is a decision of a court, of a court of justice, of an international court of justice. And the decision of the court has to be respected and implemented.”
“This arrest warrant against Mr.Deif is massively significant,” said Yael Vias Gvirsman, who represents 300 Israeli victims of the October 7 Hamas attacks.
“It means these victims’ voices are being heard,” she added, speaking from outside the court in The Hague.
The Palestinian Authority, a rival of Hamas, said that “the ICC’s decision represents hope and confidence in international law and its institutions.”
It urged ICC members to enforce “a policy of severing contact and meetings’ with Netanyahu and Gallant.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu is now officially a wanted man,” said Amnesty’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard.
“ICC member states and the whole international community must stop at nothing until these individuals are brought to trial before the ICC’s independent and impartial judges.”
“The ICC arrest warrants against senior Israeli leaders and a Hamas official break through the perception that certain individuals are beyond the reach of the law.”
The ICC’s decision “is a belated but positive decision to stop the bloodshed and put an end to the genocide in Palestine,” Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said on X.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan welcomed the warrants as “an extremely important step.”
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said his country would be obliged to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant if they visited, although he added he believed the ICC was “wrong” to put Netanyahu on the same level as Hamas.
Spain said it would follow the ruling, with official sources telling AFP the country “respects the decision and will conform to its commitments and obligations in compliance with the Rome Statute and international law.”
“It is important that the ICC carries out its mandate in a judicious manner. I have confidence that the court will proceed with the case based on the highest fair trial standards,” Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said.
“Sweden and the EU support the important work of the court and safeguard its independence and integrity,” Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said.
“The fight against impunity wherever crimes are committed is a priority for Belgium, which fully supports the work of the (ICC),” Belgium’s foreign ministry said on X. “Those responsible for crimes committed in Israel and Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of who committed them.”


Police report details 2017 sexual assault allegations against Trump nominee for top US defense post

Updated 22 November 2024
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Police report details 2017 sexual assault allegations against Trump nominee for top US defense post

  • The Monterey police department referred the complaint to the Monterey County district attorney, who declined to file charges saying there was no sufficient proof
  • Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has denied the assault allegations and told police at the time that “there was ‘always’ conversation and ‘always’ consensual contact”

WASHINGTON: A woman filed a sexual assault complaint in 2017 against Pete Hegseth, US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to take charge of the Pentagon, according to a California police report.
Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has denied the assault allegations and told police at the time that “there was ‘always’ conversation and ‘always’ consensual contact,” between him and the woman, according to the report.
The case was referred to the Monterey County district attorney by the Monterey police department, but it declined to file charges since they could not be “supported by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.” The Monterey police department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“As far as the media (is) concerned, it’s very simple: The matter was fully investigated and I was completely cleared, and that’s where I’m gonna leave it,” Hegseth told reporters on Capitol Hill where he met with Republican senators to build support for his nomination.
The police report, released by the City of Monterey on Wednesday night, does not have the complainant’s name but refers to her as Jane Doe. The report has surfaced after media outlets, including Reuters, filed requests for details about the incident that surfaced after Hegseth was named Trump’s defense secretary nominee.
The report says that Doe told an officer that she was attending a conference at a hotel in Monterey, California, in October 2017, where Hegseth was the keynote speaker.
Doe, according to the report, said she had been drinking and remembers leaving a bar with Hegseth. She said her next memory was being in an unknown room, with Hegseth blocking the door when she tried to leave.
“Doe remembered saying ‘no’ a lot. Jane Doe stated she did not remember much else,” the report said. The report added Doe said that her next memory was on a couch or bed with Hegseth over her and his dog tags hovering in her face.
While Hegseth was bare chested, “Jane Doe did not notice any tattoos, scars and or marks on Hegseth’s body,” the report said. Hegseth has a number of tattoos, including a large Jerusalem cross on his chest, Reuters has previously reported.
Doe, the report said, went to the hospital four days after the incident, where an examination was carried out. A copy of the medical exam was not included in the report. The report did not specify the hospital.
The police report said that video surveillance footage showed “Doe and Hegseth walking together, with arms locked together. Hegseth seemed to be talking and Jane Doe was smiling. Both did not have an unsteady gait.”
The report quoted a redacted name as saying that “DOE was not sure, but believes that something may have been slipped into her drink, as she cannot remember most of the night’s events.”
Hegseth says he told her he didn’t have protection and said they could stop if that was a problem, the report said.
“Hegseth stated Jane Doe said, ‘No No No, it’s not a problem. Hegseth stated he did not want to get anyone pregnant,” the police report said.
“This police report confirms what I have said all along — that the incident was fully investigated and police found the allegations to be false, which is why no charges were filed,” Hegseth’s attorney Timothy Parlatore said.
Trump has stood by Hegseth, calling the allegations false in a statement on Thursday.
“Pete Hegseth is a highly-respected Combat Veteran who will honorably serve our country when he is confirmed as the next Secretary of Defense, just like he honorably served our country on the battlefield in uniform,” said the statement.
The disclosure of the charges came as former US Representative Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration as Trump’s attorney general, after the House Ethics Committee deadlocked on releasing a report into allegations of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use.


Trump chooses Pam Bondi for attorney general pick after Gaetz withdraws amid fallout over sex trafficking probe

Updated 22 November 2024
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Trump chooses Pam Bondi for attorney general pick after Gaetz withdraws amid fallout over sex trafficking probe

  • "It is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Gaetz said
  • Bondi is a longtime Trump ally and was one of his lawyers during his first impeachment trial when he was accused of abusing his power

WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday named Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, to be US attorney general just hours after his other choice, Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name from consideration.
Bondi is a longtime Trump ally and was one of his lawyers during his first impeachment trial, when he was accused — but not convicted — of abusing his power as he tried to condition US military assistance to Ukraine on that country investigating then-former Vice President Joe Biden.
Bondi was among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his hush money criminal trial in New York that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts. She’s been a chair at the America First Policy Institute, a think tank set up by former Trump administration staffers.
“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans — Not anymore,” Trump said in a social media post. “Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again.”
Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. told Fox Business on Sunday that the transition team had backups in mind for his controversial nominees should they fail to get confirmed. The swift selection of Bondi came about six hours after Gaetz withdrew.
Gaetz stepped aside amid continued fallout over a federal sex trafficking investigation that cast doubt on his ability to be confirmed as the nation’s chief federal law enforcement officer.

 

That announcement capped a turbulent eight-day period in which Trump sought to capitalize on his decisive election win to force Senate Republicans to accept provocative selections like Gaetz, who had been investigated by the Justice Department before being tapped last week to lead it. The decision could heighten scrutiny on other controversial Trump nominees, including Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth, who faces sexual assault allegations that he denies.
“While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Gaetz, a Florida Republican who one day earlier met with senators in an effort to win their support, said in a statement.
“There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1,” he added. Hours later, Gaetz posted on social media that he looks “forward to continuing the fight to save our country,” adding, “Just maybe from a different post.”
Trump, in a social media post, said: “I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General. He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the Administration, for which he has much respect. Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!”
Last week, Trump named personal lawyers Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and D. John Sauer to senior roles in the department. Another possible attorney general contender, Matt Whitaker, was announced Wednesday as the US ambassador to NATO.
Bondi, too, is a longtime loyalist. She has been a vocal critic of the criminal cases against Trump as well as Jack Smith, the special counsel who charged Trump in two federal cases. In one radio appearance, she blasted Smith and other prosecutors who have charged Trump as “horrible” people she said were trying to make names for themselves by “going after Donald Trump and weaponizing our legal system.”
If confirmed by the Republican-led Senate, Bondi would instantly become one of the most closely watched members of Trump’s Cabinet given the Republican’s threat to pursue retribution against perceived adversaries and concern among Democrats that he will look to bend the Justice Department to his will. A recent Supreme Court opinion not only conferred broad immunity on former presidents but also affirmed a president’s exclusive authority over the Justice Department’s investigative functions.
Bondi would inherit a Justice Department expected to pivot sharply on civil rights, corporate enforcement and the prosecutions of hundreds of Trump supporters charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol — defendants whom Trump has pledged to pardon.
It’s unlikely that Bondi would be confirmed in time to overlap with Smith, who brought two federal indictments against Trump that are both expected to wind down before the incoming president takes office. Special counsels are expected to produce reports on their work that historically are made public, but it remains unclear when such a document might be released.
In 2013, while serving as Florida attorney general, Bondi publicly apologized for asking that the execution of a man convicted of murder be delayed because it conflicted with a campaign fundraiser.
Bondi said she was wrong and sorry for requesting then-Gov. Rick Scott push back the execution of Marshall Lee Gore by three weeks.
Before she ran for state attorney general in 2010, Bondi worked for the Hillsborough County state attorney.


Elon Musk blasts Australia’s planned ban on social media for children

Updated 22 November 2024
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Elon Musk blasts Australia’s planned ban on social media for children

SYDNEY, Nov 22 : US billionaire Elon Musk, owner of social media platform X, has criticized Australia’s proposed law to ban social media for children under 16 and fine social media platforms of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million) for companies for systemic breaches.
Australia’s center-left government on Thursday introduced the bill in parliament. It plans to try an age-verification system to enforce a social media age cut-off, some of the toughest controls imposed by any country to date.
“Seems like a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians,” Musk, who views himself as a champion of free speech, said in a reply late on Thursday to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s post on X about the bill.
Several countries have already vowed to curb social media use by children through legislation, but Australia’s policy could become one of the most stringent with no exemption for parental consent and pre-existing accounts.
France last year proposed a ban on social media for those under 15 but allowed parental consent, while the US has for decades required technology companies to seek parental consent to access the data of children under 13.
Musk has previously clashed with Australia’s center-left Labor government over its social media policies and had called it “fascists” over its misinformation law.
In April, X went to an Australian court to challenge a cyber regulator’s order for the removal of some posts about the stabbing of a bishop in Sydney, prompting Albanese to call Musk an “arrogant billionaire.” ($1 = 1.5359 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by David Gregorio)