LONDON: Two right-wing former ministers will go head-to-head to win votes from members of the Conservative Party and become its next leader after making it through to the final round of a contest set to shape the future of Britain’s once dominant party.
Wednesday’s vote by Conservative lawmakers was the penultimate step in a race that has been marked by the kind of in-fighting that some Conservatives blame for their party’s defeat in July’s national election.
Party members nationwide will now choose between former business and trade minister Kemi Badenoch and former immigration minister Robert Jenrick. The victor will be announced on Nov. 2.
Badenoch came first in the race among Conservative lawmakers with 42 out of 120 votes, with Jenrick coming a close second on 41 votes. In a surprise twist, Cleverly, who won the third round of voting, was eliminated from the race with 37 votes.
Whoever becomes leader will be charged with turning around the fortunes of a party that had governed Britain, alone or in coalition, since 2010 but which suffered its worst defeat in the July election, when Labour won a landslide victory.
But the Conservatives are more hopeful of returning to power in five years’ time rather than the once expected 10 after Prime Minister Keir Starmer suffered a bumpy start in government, coming under fire over welfare cuts and donations for clothes.
According to the Conservative Home website, Badenoch is the most popular contender among the party’s membership, although former foreign minister Cleverly was boosted after the annual conference, when he made a well-received speech.
“I’m grateful for the support I’ve received on this campaign,” Cleverly said. “Sadly it wasn’t to be.”
One Conservative lawmaker said Cleverly’s unexpected exit was evidence of “dark arts,” suggesting one of the candidates must have asked supporters to back Cleverly in Tuesday’s round of voting to make him appear temporarily stronger.
The final two candidates both say they will reunite a party that became mired in chaos, scandal and deep divisions over Brexit during its last eight years in government, and they pledge to return to its conservative roots to offer an alternative to Labour at the next national election, which must take place by mid-2029.
But they differ over tackling immigration, with Jenrick wanting to leave the European Convention of Human Rights, a treaty agreed by almost every European nation, while Badenoch says immigration can be tackled without doing so.
Two right-wing former ministers left in race to be UK Conservative leader
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Two right-wing former ministers left in race to be UK Conservative leader
- Party members will choose between former business and trade minister Kemi Badenoch and former immigration minister Robert Jenrick
- James Cleverly, who won the third round of voting, was eliminated from the race with 37 votes
Trump vows in Biden’s back yard to ‘drill, baby, drill’
WASHINGTON: White House hopeful Donald Trump vowed Wednesday in a speech in the crucial battleground of Pennsylvania to unleash American energy and “drill, baby, drill” as he misrepresented America’s blockbuster record on fossil fuel production.
Wooing blue-collar voters in Scranton, the former coal mining hub where President Joe Biden grew up, the Republican ex-president assailed his Democratic election rival Kamala Harris on US drilling for oil and accused her of forcing the closure of dozens of power stations.
“On day one I will tell Pennsylvania energy workers to frack, frack, frack, and drill, drill, drill, baby, drill. We’re going to frack, frack, frack,” Trump said.
“We will have energy independence and energy dominance, as we did just four short years ago. We were energy independent four years ago. Can you believe now we get our energy from Venezuela?“
Trump demonized migrants, flung baseless accusations of Democratic election fraud and misled his audience about his criminal prosecutions and polling, his opponent’s policies, US border security, the hurricanes, wind power and much else, too.
But his focus was on the economy — a top issue in the campaign — and he promised to slash household energy bills by 50 percent as he warned: “If Kamala is reelected, your costs will go up and your lights will go out.”
Under Trump the United States exported more crude oil and petroleum products than it imported, but was never close to genuine independence from foreign energy, with imports from Russia in particular spiking.
The country has been smashing records for production of oil, natural gas and renewable power under Biden, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.
Trump is polling neck-and-neck with Harris in the Keystone State, the once-thriving epicenter of the US industrial heartland, which is considered one of the biggest prizes in the Electoral College system that decides US elections.
Although Biden’s family base is in Delaware, he grew up in Scranton and remains enormously popular in the county where it is located, which he won by nine points on the way to claiming the state in 2020.
Harris, Biden’s vice president, has maintained a nationwide polling lead of two to three points since mid-August and has been gaining on Trump on the economy, boosted by easing inflation and a robust jobs report last week.
But the polls in Pennsylvania and the other six swing states likely to decide the election have been much closer.
And with four weeks to go until Election Day on November 5, new Gallup polling shows Trump outperforming Harris 54 percent to 45 percent on the economy as he touts proposals for a tariff-led manufacturing “renaissance.”
Pennsylvania is seen as a bastion of the working class vote, and both candidates have visited regularly.
The former president, 78, has a second event Wednesday in Reading, 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia.
Trump was last in the Keystone State just four days ago for a defiant return to the site of a campaign rally where he was grazed on the ear by an assassin’s bullet in July, joined onstage by billionaire backer Elon Musk.
Harris heads there next week but former president Barack Obama arrives first for a rally on Friday, part of a blitz of key swing states, adding his star power to the Democrat’s White House bid in the final month of the campaign.
Harris heads to Nevada later Wednesday for a campaign event in Las Vegas on Thursday. She then hits Arizona, where she will campaign in Phoenix on Friday.
Russian strike kills six in south Ukraine: authorities
KYIV: A Russian ballistic missile strike killed six people and wounded eight others in Ukraine’s southern coastal region of Odesa on Wednesday, authorities said.
“As a result of the enemy attack, unfortunately, six people were killed and eight were wounded, four of them in serious condition. All the victims are citizens of Ukraine,” Odesa regional governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram.
Time running out in Florida to flee Hurricane Milton
SARASOTA: Many Florida residents have fled, but some battened down the hatches, in the final hours Wednesday before Hurricane Milton pummels the state, as government relief efforts were dragged into the thick of the White House race.
Ferocious winds and tidal surges are expected to inundate Florida’s heavily populated and low-lying Gulf Coast, with the cities of Tampa and Sarasota in the storm’s path, amid rising fears of widespread chaos and multiple fatalities.
Milton is then expected to barrel across the state as a hurricane, ripping a path over to the Atlantic Ocean, with tourist hub Orlando — home to Walt Disney World — in its sights.
In Sarasota, as the rain intensified, streets were increasingly deserted, with most businesses shuttered and sandbagged for protection. Residents sought refuge at evacuation centers.
“I am nervous. This is something we just went through with the other storm — ground saturated, still recovering from that,” Randy Prior, who owns a pool business, told AFP.
Prior, 36, says he plans to ride out the storm at home, after recently toughing out Helene, which flooded the same western parts of Florida before wreaking havoc across remote areas of North Carolina and further inland.
“I own a business, so once the storm stops, I’ve got to be here, help clean up, get everything back to normal. But this one’s a big one for sure.”
Tampa resident Luis Santiago meanwhile said he would “close up everything” and leave.
With the storm coming immediately after lethal Hurricane Helene hit the US southeast, Donald Trump has sought political advantage by falsely saying aid is channeled away from supporters of his Republican Party toward migrants.
At the White House on Wednesday, President Joe Biden slammed the Republican former president and current candidate’s “onslaught of lies.”
“There’s been a reckless, irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies,” Biden said in angry remarks.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who is taking on Trump at the polls, echoed Biden’s criticisms in a separate telephone interview with CNN.
“It is dangerous, it is unconscionable, frankly, that anyone who’d consider themselves a leader would mislead desperate people to the point that those desperate people would not receive the aid to which they are entitled,” she said.
In Florida, officials again warned those in danger zones to seek safe shelter.
“You still have time to evacuate if you are in an evacuation zone,” Governor Ron DeSantis told a press briefing. “This hurricane is going to pack a major, major punch and do an awful lot of damage.”
But time was running out.
By Wednesday afternoon, Milton was located 120 miles (195 kilometers) southwest of Tampa, generating maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (215 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Multiple tornado warnings were in effect across Florida.
“Milton is expected to remain an extremely dangerous major hurricane when it reaches the west-central coast of Florida tonight, and remain at hurricane strength while it moves across the Florida peninsula through Thursday,” the NHC said.
“Preparations to protect life and property, including being ready for long-duration power outages, should be rushed to completion.”
Airlines added flights out of Tampa, Orlando, Fort Myers and Sarasota, as highways clogged up with escaping traffic and gas station pumps ran dry.
Not all Floridians and tourists were hurrying to leave.
John Gomez, 75, traveled all the way from Chicago to try to save his Florida home.
“I think it’s better to be here in case something happens,” Gomez said.
At Walt Disney World in Orlando, which was expected to receive a big hit once Milton crosses the peninsula, visitors were getting a few rides in before the theme parks close shortly after midday.
“It’s safe and we’re here, so might as well,” said Lindsay Moore, 42, who flew in from Hawaii over the weekend.
“We thought about canceling but airlines wouldn’t let us.”
Trump has repeatedly fueled conspiracy theories and disinformation about supposed failure by Biden and Harris.
“Western North Carolina, and the whole state, for that matter, has been totally and incompetently mismanaged by Harris/Biden,” Trump said Wednesday on his Truth Social network.
“Hold on, and vote these horrible ‘public servants’ out of office.”
Scientists say global warming has a role in intense storms as warmer ocean surfaces release more water vapor, providing additional energy for storms, which exacerbates their winds.
Across the southeastern United States, emergency workers are still struggling to provide relief after Helene, which killed at least 235 people.
Saudi to participate in Bio Japan
- Leading biotech companies, universities and almost every major global pharmaceutical company takes part in Bio Japan
- Saudi Arabia has launched a comprehensive National Biotechnology Strategy and is investing in biotechnology as a part of Saudi Vision 2030
YOKOHAMA: Saudi Arabia is participating in Bio Japan – the world’s oldest biotechnology exhibition and business event – for the first time and presented a seminar on Wednesday in conjunction with the Japan Cooperation Center for the Middle East.
Leading biotech companies, universities and almost every major global pharmaceutical company takes part in Bio Japan, which focuses on biotechnology, regenerative medicine, and the health care industry in general.
Saudi Arabia has launched a comprehensive National Biotechnology Strategy and is investing in biotechnology as a part of Saudi Vision 2030, recognizing its great potential to drive economic diversification and innovation.
The plan is to foster collaboration between government agencies and private enterprises and unlock the full potential of biotechnology research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization. By unifying efforts and establishing a clear road map, Saudi Arabia seeks to position itself as a global leader in biotechnology and capitalize on the sector’s vast benefits for both domestic and international markets.
Representing Saudi Arabia at the event were Bandar bin Abdulmohsen Al-Knawi, Executive Director General for Health Affairs at the Ministry of National Guard; Ammar Al-Taf, the Assistant Deputy of the Ministry of Investment; and Majed Al-Saadi, the General Manager of Investor Outreach in the Ministry of Investments. Saudi Ambassador to Japan, Dr. Ghazi Binzagr also attended the workshop and the meetings.
Mohammed Al-Dahlawi, director Japan Office Ministry of Investment Saudi Arabia is also participating along with Mohammed Alfehaid, Director, Industrial Biotech, Ministry of Investment Saudi Arabia.
Bio Japan 2024, held in Yokohama and running from October 9th to 11th, brings together key players in the industry, experts, and innovators from around the world to showcase pioneering advancements in biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and health care technology.
According to the organizers, the conference brings together over 20,000 attendees from 35 countries, including leading biotech companies, research institutions, and government representatives.
Key topics of discussion will include innovations in biopharmaceuticals, advancements in stem cell research and gene therapies, sustainability in biotech, and how AI is revolutionizing drug discovery processes.
UK’s Tom Fletcher named head of UN humanitarian agency
- The organization grapples with unprecedented crises and budget pressures
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations named British diplomat and academic Tom Fletcher as head of its humanitarian agency on Wednesday, as the organization grapples with unprecedented crises and budget pressures.
“United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres today announced the appointment of Tom Fletcher of the United Kingdom as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),” the UN said in a statement.
