List of All Articles with Tag 'world'

Donald Trump’s former defence chief threw cold water on the assertion from his former boss and his allies that the classified records and other documents seized from the ex-president’s home and resort in an FBI raid were his to take. As the ex-president’s loyalists continue to offer a wide scope of defences for their leader ranging from arguments that Mr Trump was allowed to designate the materials as personal records for his own safekeeping to the idea that the prosecution is merely a politicised weaponisation of the Justice Department, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper has offered his own assessment on the situation. On Sunday, he joined CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper, and flatly stated that his ex-boss’s actions were “illegal and dangerous”. “People have described him as a hoarder when it comes to these type of documents. But, clearly, it was unauthorized, illegal and dangerous,” said Mr Esper. “If the allegations are true that it contained information about our nation’s security, about our vulnerabilities, about other items, it could be quite harmful to the nation. And, look, no one is above the law. And so I think this process needs to play out and people held to account, the president held to account,” he continued. It was a firm look at the facts of the investigation from a man who, under the same ex-president now facing roughly three dozen federal charges, had access to some of the nation’s most classified materials and had oversight over America’s armed services as well as intelligence services such as the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA). Mr Esper was one of a number of the former president’s top officials who did not make it through the end of the Trump presidency; in the secretary’s case, he was fired days after the 2020 election as an increasingly volatile then-President Trump ordered thousands of US troops out of an already rapidly-deteriorating Afghanistan — reportedly having wanted the effort to conclude even before the election. Others, like members of his press team and the head of the Department of Transportation, Elaine Chao, would resign following the attack on the US Capitol by thousands of Mr Trump’s supporters on January 6. The withdrawal agreement signed by the Trump administration has widely been cited as contributing to the swift end of Afghanistan’s democratic government at the hands of the Taliban, accelerating with the departure of military contractors under Joe Biden’s presidency in 2021. Mr Trump has pled not guilty to 37 charges related to his allegedly illegal retention of documents from the White House following the end of his presidency, includng classified materials. He separately faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in New York state. Read More Attorney General Garland keeps poker face as firestorm erupts after Trump charges Miami's Francis Suarez looks to become first sitting mayor to be president Nikki Haley's husband begins Africa deployment as she campaigns for 2024 GOP nomination South Carolina GOP sets Feb. 24 date for first-in-the-South presidential primary Voters think Trump is a criminal, Biden is too old and DeSantis is a fascist, new poll finds DeSantis quiet on Trump indictment as he faces conservatives in Trump country

Lashing out after his arraignment on federal charges last week, Donald Trump took aim at President Joe Biden and Democrats with language that seemed to evoke another era: He was being persecuted, he said, by “Marxists” and “communists.” Trump has used the labels since he first appeared on the political scene, but it lately has become an omnipresent attack line that also has been deployed by other Republicans. The rhetoric is both inaccurate and potentially dangerous because it attempts to demonize an entire party with a description that has long been associated with America's enemies. Experts who study political messaging say associating Democrats with Marxism only furthers the country's polarization — and is simply wrong: Biden has promoted capitalism and Democratic lawmakers are not pushing to reshape American democracy into a communist system. That hasn't mattered to Trump and other Republicans, who for years have used hyperbolic references to the associated political ideologies to spark fears about Democrats and the dangers they supposedly pose. Hours after pleading not guilty in federal court, Trump told a crowd of his supporters at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, that Biden, “together with a band of his closest thugs, misfits and Marxists, tried to destroy American democracy.” He added, “If the communists get away with this, it won’t stop with me.” He again hit on the Marxist theme days later during a telephone rally with Iowa voters. The comments came after numerous campaign emails and social posts in recent months in which Trump has claimed that Biden’s America could soon become a “third world Marxist regime” or a “tyrannical Marxist nation.” Other Republicans have piled on with similar messaging. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene last week took to Twitter to lambast what she called the “CORRUPT AND WEAPONIZED COMMUNISTS DEMOCRAT CONTROLLED DOJ.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump's closest rival for the GOP presidential nomination, has argued the U.S. risks falling victim to “woke” ideology, which he has defined in interviews as a form of “cultural Marxism.” Experts say there is a long history of U.S. politicians calling opponents Marxist or communist without evidence — perhaps most infamously the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who led efforts to blacklist accused communists in the 1950s. In a country that has historically positioned itself against Marxism, “red-baiting is as American as apple pie in political communications,” said Tanner Mirrlees, an associate professor at Ontario Tech University in Canada who has researched political discourse about “cultural Marxism.” The attacks are carefully constructed to hit voters emotionally, said Steve Israel, a former U.S. congressman from New York who studied political messaging as chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. “Democrats tend to message to the part of the brain that is about reason and empirical evidence,” he said. “Republicans message to the gut.” For some Hispanic Trump supporters who gathered outside the federal courthouse in Miami where the former president was arraigned, the charges evoked memories of political persecutions their family members had once escaped. “This is what they do in Latin America,” said Madelin Munilla, 67, who came to Miami as a child when her parents fled Fidel Castro's Cuba. She carried a poster with a photo of Biden alongside Castro, Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega — leftist leaders whose jailing of opponents has driven immigration to south Florida for decades. Unlike the U.S., which has a tradition of respect for the rule of law and constitutional separation of powers, the judiciary in many parts of Latin America lacks the same independence. In a region where corruption flourishes, poorly paid prosecutors and judges are routinely caught doing the bidding of powerful politicians seeking to settle scores or derail criminal investigations. A surge in immigration from Southeast Asia after the Vietnam War also brought a population of staunchly anti-communist voters, some of whom have aligned with the Republican Party in part because of its forceful messaging on the issue. Yet opposing an actual regime that suppresses individual freedom and opposes a free market economy is different from the way many Republicans use these terms now —- to falsely claim Marxists are U.S. society's ruling class. “Bluntly, there is no empirical ground beneath the Republican claim that Marxists rule the big institutions of American society,” Mirrlees said. Other Republicans, from DeSantis to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, have used another term, “cultural Marxism,” to characterize fights for gender or racial equity that they argue are “woke” and threaten a traditional American way of life. Cruz used it in the title of his book. Though the term has become popular among mainstream Republicans, it has a darker past. Experts say the concept of “cultural Marxism” posing a threat was historically spread by antisemitic and white supremacist groups. For most voters who hear candidates say someone is communist or Marxist, the true meaning may matter less than the negative associations with the terms, said James Gardner, a University at Buffalo law professor who focuses on election law. “The tactic seems to be to pick an adjective that most people think describes something bad and try to associate it with the person you are denigrating,” he said. Still, while railing against communists and Marxists may be effective at animating voters who form the Republican base, it may not be an effective strategy in next year's general election, Israel said. That's because it doesn't as easily sway moderate and independent voters who don't see evidence that ties Democrats to those ideologies. “Moderate voters may succumb to the Republican argument that Democrats are for more spending, but they’re not going to fall for the argument that Democrats are Marxists,” Israel said. “The Republicans are overplaying their hand.” ____ Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Read More Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement 20 years after invasion, Iraqis still waiting to come to US Trump’s defence chief slams ex-president’s ‘illegal and dangerous’ documents trove South Carolina GOP sets Feb. 24 date for first-in-the-South presidential primary

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China’s top foreign policy official in Beijing, after a delayed

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. became the latest bank to cut their forecasts for China’s economy, citing limited options

Chinese homeowners are losing conviction in their decades-long belief that property is a reliable store of wealth, undermining

Ghana is anticipating “very hard” talks with eurobond holders in the coming months as it plans to reach

A group of hackers working against the Iranian government have struck again, this time with a second trove of documents obtained from the highest levels of the authoritarian regime. Credit for the attack was claimed by the group calling itself “Ghiam ta Sarnegoun”, or “Rise to Overthrow”. The attack follows a similar episode in early May, when the group defaced the website of Iran’s foreign ministry with messages in support of Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran — a politician-in-exile with backing from many in the west, including in Washington. Among the documents posted in the second attack, which were posted online on 29 May, were directives from the office of Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi. In one, addressed to a top security chief by Mr Raisi’s chief of staff, the president raises clear concerns about ongoing protests in the country that began last year in response to the killing of a young woman in police custody over her supposedly improper headcovering. “In these incidents, in addition to the initial intelligence surprise of the September 1st, in particular the events of October 26, as well as the strikes and riots on November 15, 16 and 17 no prediction and prevention [options] were [presented], and the analysis were based only on general and imprecise estimates and calls in the social media,” reads one letter in part. “To correct this process and prevent repetition of these surprises in the future what has been done? As the failure and end point of the enemy's project were not included on 7 and 8 of December reports of analyzes and predictions,” that letter continues, adding later: “Unfortunately, in recent months, the reports have mostly [been] describing the events of the streets and waiting to discover the surprising devices of the enemies.” Other documents were equally unflattering. A second letter to an intelligence minister again signed by Mr Raisi’s chief of staff laid out known issues with Iran’s intelligence community including “incompetent and dependent managers”, “infiltration”, as well as “marginalisation and demoralisation of revolutionary forces”. The Independent has not verified the documents in-house, although experts with the Computer Emergency Response Team in Farsi (CERTFA) have called the documents posted on 29 May from the latest hack legitimate. Altogether, the document presents a revealing look at a beleaguered government that found itself largely unable to effectively stamp out demonstrations that swept across the nation in response to a major societal episode — in this case, the killing of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, by so-called “morality police” in the country. The assessment could bode poorly for the Raisi government should similar protests emerge in the near future. The NCRI agreed in a statement to The Independent, arguing that the documents showed “the fragile state” of Iran’s security apparatus and “the fear and vulnerability of the regime”. At the same time, other passages betray the Iranian regime’s continued confidence in its ability to evade or otherwise bear the cost of US sanctions, which were snapped back into place under the Trump administration and remain under the presidency of Joe Biden. If more than bluster, it’s a spark of good news for Iran’s government given the State Department and White House’s lack of success in reaching an agreement to reignite the 2015 nuclear agreement and the resulting low chance of those sanctions being dropped. Mr Biden was heard telling a voter on a ropeline late last year that his administration views the accord signed under the presidency of Barack Obama (and his own vice presidency) to be dead. “It is dead, but we are not gonna announce it,” he said at the time, quipping: “Long story.” Read More Voters think Trump is a criminal, Biden is too old and DeSantis is a fascist, new poll finds Leaving Afghan heroes out in the cold is beyond callous – it shames us all Nikki Haley's husband begins Africa deployment as she campaigns for 2024 GOP nomination Blinken seeks to warm up frosty US-China relations in high-stakes Beijing trip Attorney General Garland keeps poker face as firestorm erupts after Trump charges US, China remain at odds on numerous issues as Blinken finishes first day of meetings in Beijing

A Fox News guest discussing last week’s “drag nuns” protest, the Trump prosecution and “the left” has suggested the time may be coming for someone in America to “pull the trigger” like at Concord, the battle which helped to spark the Revolutionary War. Retired MLB pitcher and conservative commentator Curt Schilling made the on-air comments Friday while in conversation with host Jesse Watters. Schilling complained that leaders on the right “talk, talk, that’s all they’re doing” without backing up ideology with action. “We’re up against a side and a force that doesn’t play by the rules – refuses to play by the rules,” Schilling said, adding of conservatives: “We get excited, and we get emotional; that’s it. They break the law; they do the things they need to do to ensure their agenda is driven forward – and we’re watching them gut our nation from the inside out, and I don’t know where the rubber’s gonna meet the road.” Referencing the American founding fathers and “the young men that signed the Constitution,” Schilling continued: “They sacrificed everything to come out from under a tyrannical government and, then, eventually, at some point, there was a man at Concord who decided he was gonna pull the trigger.” The Battles of Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775 marked the start of America’s ultimately victorious War of Independence from Britain. “And I feel like we’re getting back to a point where somebody’s gonna have to pull a trigger, because everything we hold dear – everything this country was founded on – is being just dragged through the mud and mocked and made fun of,” he said. “This country was founded on godly principles – no matter how offensive that is to the left, it’s true.” When Watters asked whether his guest meant “pull the trigger” metaphorically, Schilling stumbled slightly over his words. “Absolutely. Well, no,” he said. “I mean, it doesn’t matter if I say ‘metaphorically,’ because they’re gonna run with that quote no matter how I put it. I could’ve phrased it in any possible way, saying ‘stand up and fight and blah blah blah’ – and I would be inciting a riot.” The backlash was swift on social media, where Schilling’s choice of words – despite the partial backtracking – was vilified as inciteful. The Intellectuast, @highbrow_nobrow, tweeted a clip of the interview on Saturday, writing: “This is a very clear dog whistle for stochastic terrorism” while deriding Fox as “dangerous propaganda.” “This is who MAGA are — they prefer violence over voting,” wrote Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell, tweeting a clip of the comments. “It’s not going to work. RT if you plan to vote next November.” Author Brian O’Sullivan called Schilling’s comments “undeniably dangerous” in a tweet, suggesting charges should result “If some right-wing nut ever took his call-to-arms to heart.” Schilling is no stranger to political controversy. The All-Star pitcher was fired by ESPN in 2016 after promoting social media content that appeared to mock the transgender community. He was an outspoken Trump supporter and has espoused the 45th President’s aversion to finesse, coming under fire more than once for posts and statements many deemed offensive. The Independent has reached out to Fox News Media. Schilling, one day after his Fox interview made headlines, attempted clarification again on Twitter. “Be the first to admit it was a bad choice of words but it was clarified immediately,” he wrote on Saturday. “As I said then and we’ve seen now, doesn’t matter. They’ll outright lie and make up s**t to the point where they can quote you and create a fictional quote then jate {sic) you for it or talk s**t. Or the best one is when these clowns do the ‘dog whistle’ BS OR ‘what he meant to say was’ schtick. “No matter, like I said, when you call them out as the American hating lazy ass frauds they are they scream and make s**t up. Their ENTIRE EXISTANCE (sic) is based on race, sexual orientation, unfettered access to abortion, legalizing drugs and emotions. Facts elude them and destroy everything they claim. Facts and an honest days (sic) work that is.” Read More Curt Shilling: Pro-Trump All-Star pitcher blasts ‘coward’ baseball writers after ninth Hall of Fame rejection Fox News host criticised for ‘disturbing’ claim about immigrants Fox News producer out after onscreen message calling President Biden a 'wannabe dictator' A nun commends Dodgers' handling of Pride Night controversy; some archbishops call it blasphemy Former drag queen George Santos launches random vulgar attack on ‘drag nuns’ Trump says ‘Long live the King’ in rant day after Biden said ‘God save the Queen’ Nikki Haley's husband begins Africa deployment as she campaigns for 2024 GOP nomination Fox News producer out after onscreen message calling President Biden a 'wannabe dictator'

Kuwait formed its fifth government in less than a year, naming new oil and defense ministers, as the

US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg reiterated the government’s determination to respond quickly to revive the collapsed Interstate 95

A new poll out from JL Partners underscores major weaknesses for the three men most likely to be sworn in as president on 20 January 2025, with little good news to soften the blow. With the GOP primary now in full swing, Americans are getting a good look at the alternatives the Republican Party will present to the re-election of President Joe Biden, who was already the oldest president ever to take office when he did so in 2021. But the top contenders in the GOP, former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, each have debilitating labels to overcome if they have any shot of picking up ground with a general election audience, according to the survey. For Mr Trump, voters were most likely to describe him in one word as a “criminal”; others were even less flattering, such as “disgusting”, “liar”, “evil” and “dangerous” (though “patriot” also made a top-10 appearance). The Florida governor got off arguably worse. The top two responses from voters describing Mr DeSantis were “fascist” and “unsure”, the latter indicating possible unfamiliarity with his political record or a lack of name recognition. And while Mr Biden fares better than either of his would-be opponents, the incumbent president nevertheless remains chained to concerns about his age, which dominated the minds of the most voters asked for their one-word summation of him. Altogether, the poll results signaled that Americans are largely unsatisfied with the options they have for leadership over the next half decade. To be sure, those three men are not the only candidates running, but no other Republican is polling at a numerically significant level at present and Mr Biden’s party is highly unlikely to facilitate a primary challenge against an incumbent president. The poll, conducted on behalf of the Daily Mail, most likely outlines the kind of attacks that voters can expect to see in a general election scenario; concerns about Mr Biden’s age and supposed feebleness will be front and centre, as will discussion of Mr Trump’s multiple criminal investigations or Mr DeSantis’s record of support for hard-right conservative legislation in his home state of Florida should either of them be the GOP nominee. JL Partners’ survey included responses from 1,000 likely general election voters between 12-15 June. The margin of error was 3.1 per cent. Read More Attorney General Garland keeps poker face as firestorm erupts after Trump charges Miami's Francis Suarez looks to become first sitting mayor to be president Biden warns union members that Republicans are ‘coming for your jobs’ in 2024 campaign speech in Philadelphia Trump is incredibly guilty: that doesn’t mean he’ll get the prison time he deserves Trump says ‘Long live the King’ in rant about Fox a day after Biden said ‘God save the Queen’ DeSantis quiet on Trump indictment as he faces conservatives in Trump country

Former president Donald Trump began his weekend by lashing out against his long list of enemies, ranting on Truth Social about Biden family conspiracies, the federal indictment against him, and perceived disloyalty at Fox News. In a bizarre post, he compared himself to a “King” and a “Golden Goose.” Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, the former president’s chief rival in the 2024 election sharped his message. Joe Biden told a room full of union members Republicans were coming to take their jobs. “They are coming for your jobs. They are coming for your future. They are coming for the future we are building for your kids and grandkids,” Mr Biden told the crowd. Read More Trump declared ‘food for all’ in post-arrest stop at Miami cafe – but reportedly skipped bill Trump says ‘Long live the King’ in rant about Fox a day after Biden said ‘God save the Queen’ Donald Trump scores rare legal win as DA drops golf course tax probe Trump's promise of payback for prosecution follows years of attacking democratic traditions Is Donald Trump going to prison?