MILWAUKEE: Jubilant GOP delegates cheered as they formally nominated Donald Trump during Monday’s Republican National Convention kickoff, less than two days after an assassination attempt on the former president and shortly after he announced Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his vice presidential running mate.
Their vote makes it official that Trump, who has long been the presumptive nominee, will lead the GOP in a third consecutive election. The winner in 2016, he lost to current President Joe Biden in 2020. In November, he will again face Biden, who dismissed Vance as “a clone” of Trump on important issues.
Trump’s son Eric announced Florida’s votes, which put the former president over the top for the nomination. Video screens in the arena read “OVER THE TOP” while the song “Celebration” played and delegates danced and waved Trump signs. Thoughout the voting, delegates flanked by “Make America Great Again” signs applauded as state after state voted their support for Trump’s second term.
Saturday’s shooting at a Pennsylvania rally, where Trump was injured and one man died, was not far from delegates’ minds as they celebrated — a stark contrast to the anger and anxiety that had marked the previous few days. Some delegates chanted “fight, fight, fight” — the same words that Trump was seen shouting to the crowd as the Secret Service ushered him off the stage, his fist raised and face bloodied.
“We should all be thankful right now that we are able to cast our votes for President Donald J. Trump after what took place on Saturday,” said New Jersey state Sen. Michael Testa as he announced all of his state’s 12 delegates for Trump.
Wyoming delegate Sheryl Foland was among those who adopted the “fight” chant after seeing Trump survive Saturday in what she called “monumental photos and video.”
“We knew then we were going to adopt that as our chant,” added Foland, a child trauma mental health counselor. “Not just because we wanted him to fight, and that God was fighting for him. We thought, isn’t it our job to accept that challenge and fight for our country?”
“It’s bigger than Trump,” Foland said. “It’s a mantra for our country.”
Trump’s campaign chiefs had designed the convention to feature a softer and more optimistic message, focusing on themes that would help a divisive leader expand his appeal among moderate voters and people of color.
With the shooting, however, the Democrats’ turmoil after the debate, the GOP’s potential governing agenda and even Trump’s criminal convictions became secondary to concerns about political violence and the country’s stability. Trump and his allies will make their case during their four-day convention in Milwaukee unquestionably united and motivated in the wake of the attack.
Vivek Ramaswamy, who ran in the GOP presidential primary, has distinguished himself as one of the more aggressive voices on the right, saying often that the country is already at war with itself. So it was notable that in remarks at an event run by the conservative Heritage Institute at the RNC on Monday he was toning down his rhetoric and urging the country to come together.
“The enemy is not the Democrats, it is an ideology,” Ramaswamy told the crowd at Heritage’s “Policy Fest” event.
Some well-timed good news was also affecting the mood on the convention floor Monday: The federal judge presiding over Trump’s classified documents case dismissed the prosecution because of concerns over the appointment of the prosecutor who brought the case, handing the former president a major court victory.
Excitement from Trump allies as they react to his running mate pick
Trump announced JD Vance as his running mate Monday afternoon, just before he clinched the Republican nomination. The former president’s family and biggest allies quickly lauded the decision as a good one for the direction of the Republican Party.
Moments after the decision was public, Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. told CNN in an interview that Vance was an “incredible guy with an amazing story” who will help “unify this country.”
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who had been considered as a potential vice presidential pick, said in a post on X that Vance’s “small town roots and service to country make him a powerful voice for the America First Agenda.”
Attempted assassination has not changed the convention program
In an interview Sunday, Republican Party chairman Michael Whatley said the convention’s programming wouldn’t be changed after the shooting. The agenda, he said, will feature more than 100 speakers focused on kitchen table issues and Trump’s plans to lift everyday working Americans.
“We have to be able to lay out a vision for where we want to take this country,” he said.
Whatley said the central message would have little to do with Biden’s political struggles, Trump’s grievances about the 2020 election or the ex-president’s promises to exact retribution against political enemies.
“We are going to have the convention that we have been planning for the last 18 months,” he said. “We are a combination of relieved and grateful that the president is going to be here and is going to accept the nomination.”
In addition to formally naming Trump the nominee, delegates from across the nation will turn to updating the GOP’s policy platform for the first time since 2016. The scaled-down platform proposal — just 16 pages with limited specifics on key issues, including abortion — reflects a desire by the Trump campaign to avoid giving Democrats more material on campaign issues.
The platform approved by a committee last week doesn’t include an explicit call for a national abortion ban, two years after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended a federally guaranteed right to abortion.
“More divisiveness would not be healthy,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.
People connected to Jan. 6 are involved
There will be reminders of Trump’s record in a speaking program that includes a handful of Republicans charged with crimes related to other political violence — the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
Former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, who’s in jail on contempt of Congress charges, is expected to speak at the convention just hours after his release. He was found guilty in September after refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Capitol attack.
Trump has repeatedly cast the people involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including his many supporters who stormed the Capitol, as political prisoners.
For now, Democrats have scaled back their plans to offer a competing message during the Republican convention, and has pulled down campaign ads in the wake of the attempted assassination of Trump.
Protesters march
Hundreds of demonstrators converged on downtown Milwaukee to protest around the RNC, saying the assassination attempt won’t affect their long-standing plans to demonstrate outside the site.
The activists called attention to issues such as abortion rights, economic justice and the war in Gaza. As they marched, the atmosphere was festive, with music playing over loud speakers, a man strumming a guitar and vendors selling T-shirts and buttons supporting both Republicans and Democrats.
Activists carried signs that read, “Stand with Palestine,” “We Can No Longer Afford the Rich,” and “Defend and Expand Immigrant Rights.”
The protesters’ movements were restricted as part of enhanced security precautions established by the Secret Service.
Security officials previously announced that people just outside the Secret Service perimeter would be allowed to carry guns openly or concealed as permitted by state law. Wisconsin statutes outlaw only machine guns, short-barreled shotguns and silencers.
Trump announces Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as running mate
https://arab.news/z25ru
Trump announces Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as running mate
- J.D. Vance is a one-time harsh critic who became one of Trump’s most loyal supporters in Congress
- One of the least experienced VP picks in modern history, the one-term senator is further to the right than the ex-president on many issues
UK court cuts longest jail terms on activists, rejects 10 appeals
- Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion have in recent years carried out spectacular, often disruptive protests
- Defense lawyers had called the sentences imposed against all 16 activists involved in four separate protests ‘manifestly excessive’
The groups Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion have in recent years carried out spectacular, often disruptive protests, including stopping London’s busy traffic and targeting famous places and paintings, as part of their campaign to highlight climate change.
But last July, five activists were stunned after being sentenced to between four and five years in prison for planning in an online call to block the M25 motorway around London, a key transport link for the capital.
They were among 16 activists who appealed their jail terms before the Court of Appeal in London in January.
In her ruling on Friday, Lady Chief Justice Sue Carr cut the heaviest jail term of five years imposed on Roger Hallam, 58, a co-founder of Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion, for the conspiracy case to four years.
Two other co-accused in that case had their sentences shortened from four years to three, with two others seeing their four-year terms reduced to 30 months.
One of the oldest activists, Gaie Delap, 78, also saw her sentence shortened from 20 to 18 months, for scaling one of the gantries on the M25.
In the January appeal, defense lawyers had called the sentences imposed against all 16 activists involved in four separate protests “manifestly excessive.”
The group also included two women who threw tomato soup on Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” painting at London’s National Gallery. Their sentences of 20 months and two years were upheld in Friday’s ruling.
Lawyer Danny Friedman said in January that the collective prison terms of between 15 months to five years were “the highest of their kind in modern British history.”
The activists “did what they did out of sacrifice” and were acting in the “best interests of the public, the planet and future generations,” he said, asking for the jail terms to be reduced or quashed.
But prosecutors argued the sentences had been merited as “all of these applicants went so far beyond what was reasonable.”
Their actions also presented an “extreme danger” to the public and to themselves, they said.
The hearing has been closely watched amid fears that peaceful protest risks being stifled in Britain.
And NGOs and activists have warned the case could have far-reaching implications for future protests.
“Despite some modest reductions, these sentences are still unprecedented and they still have no place in a democracy that upholds the right to protest,” said Greenpeace co-executive director Areeba Hamid.
Friends of the Earth lawyer Katie de Kauwe said in a statement the group was “pleased” that some of the sentences had been reduced.
But she added “ultimately however, we believe that locking up those motivated by their genuine concern for the climate crisis is neither right or makes any sense.”
Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion launched their protests to fight the use of fossil fuels, which scientists say are causing global warming and climate change.
But the groups, which are urging the government to ban fossil fuel use by 2030, have attracted criticism over their eye-catching methods.
Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth had backed what they called “a critically important legal appeal over the right to protest.”
Other cases are still before the courts, including charges brought against two Just Stop Oil members accused of throwing orange paint powder over the stone megaliths of Stonehenge, as well as two activists charged with spray-painting the tomb of naturalist Charles Darwin in Westminster Abbey.
The country’s previous Conservative government took a hostile stance toward disruptive direct action, and passed laws toughening punishments for such offenses.
Turkiye’s Erdogan says backs air, sea truce in Ukraine war
- Turkish leader: ‘Our efforts to reach an agreement that will guarantee the safety of navigation in the Black Sea align with this approach’
- NATO member Turkiye has sought to maintain good relations with both of its Black Sea neighbors since the Russian invasion three years ago
ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday threw his support behind a call by Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky for an aerial and sea truce in the Ukraine war.
“We support the idea of establishing a ceasefire as soon as possible and stopping attacks in the air and at sea as a confidence-building measure between the parties,” Erdogan told an online meeting organized by the EU.
“Our efforts to reach an agreement that will guarantee the safety of navigation in the Black Sea align with this approach,” he said.
His statement came shortly after the Ukrainian president repeated his demand for “silence in the skies... and also silence at sea,” on X following a “massive” Russian attack on the country’s energy grid overnight.
And on Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron said London and Paris were proposing a one-month truce in Ukraine “in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure.”
Erdogan, whose country has twice hosted Ukraine-Russia talks at the start of the war, also said both sides must be seated at the table for any peace negotiations to work.
“Today, we draw attention to the importance of a solid diplomatic ground where both warring parties will be at the table for a just, lasting and honorable peace,” he said.
NATO member Turkiye has sought to maintain good relations with both of its Black Sea neighbors since the Russian invasion three years ago and has twice hosted direct talks aimed at ending the war.
Bangladesh police use tear gas to disperse Islamist march in Dhaka
- Police were unable to control the crowd and had to use tear gas and sound grenades to disperse them
- The Dhaka Metropolitan Police had warned banned organizations against holding public meetings and rallies
DHAKA: Police in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka used tear gas and sound grenades on Friday to disperse hundreds of members of the banned militant group Hizb-ut-Tahrir seeking to march to demand the country’s secular democracy be replaced by an Islamic caliphate.
Hundreds of activists chanting “Khilafat, Khilafat” gathered for the ‘March for Khilafat’ procession at the Baitul Mukarram Mosque after Friday prayers, defying police barricades.
Police were unable to control the crowd and had to use tear gas and sound grenades to disperse them, witnesses said. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police had warned banned organizations on Thursday against holding public meetings and rallies.
Hizb-ut-Tahrir, banned in Bangladesh since October 2009 for posing a threat to national security, has frequently organized protests and marches in defiance of a government ban on public gatherings.
The London-based Hizb-ut-Tahrir seeks to unite Muslims in a pan-Islamic state but says its means are peaceful.
The Muslim-majority country of 170 million people is one of the world’s largest and poorest democracies.
It has been grappling with political unrest since an interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, took over following protests that drove then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina out of the country.
Kumbh Mela: Massive clean up after India’s Hindu mega-festival ends
- Massive sanitation drive has been underway since the six-week gala drew to a close last week in the northern city of Prayagraj
- The Kumbh Mela is the single biggest milestone on the Hindu religious calendar, staged every 12 years
PRAYAGRAJ, India: Thousands of sanitation workers were toiling on Friday to clean up 20,000 tons of waste left behind by hundreds of millions of Hindu devotees after India’s Kumbh Mela mega-festival.
The massive sanitation drive has been underway since the six-week gala drew to a close last week in the northern city of Prayagraj.
Hundreds of millions of people visited the city during the festival according to government figures, with mounds of discarded clothing, plastic bottles and other waste now littering the grounds.
“We have deployed 15,000 workers to clear up some 20,000 tons of waste generated from the festival,” Prayagraj municipal commissioner Chandra Mohan Garg said.
The Kumbh Mela is the single biggest milestone on the Hindu religious calendar, staged every 12 years at the holy confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers.
It is rooted in Hindu mythology, a battle between deities and demons for control of a pitcher containing the nectar of immortality.
Workers were also busy dismantling a temporary infrastructure, that includes 150,000 portable toilets.
In several places, open areas were used as makeshift toilets, posing a challenge to the army of sanitary staff.
“The dedication toward cleanliness... will continue to inspire efforts to keep Prayagraj, and its sacred rivers, clean for generations to come,” the government said in a statement this week.
The Kumbh Mela was also a testament to the “collective spirit of maintaining a cleaner and more sustainable environment,” it added.
Kremlin: Russia may need to act to respond to EU ‘militarization’ plans to ensure its own security
- ‘We see that the European Union is now actively discussing the militarization of the EU and the development of the defense segment’
- ‘This is a process that we are watching closely, because the EU is positioning Russia as its main adversary’
MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia may need to act to respond to what it called European Union plans to militarize the bloc that cast Russia as its main adversary.
European leaders on Thursday backed plans to spend more on defense and continue to stand by Ukraine in a world upended by Donald Trump’s reversal of US policies.
“We see that the European Union is now actively discussing the militarization of the EU and the development of the defense segment. This is a process that we are watching closely, because the EU is positioning Russia as its main adversary,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“This, of course, could potentially be a topic of deep concern for us and there could be a need to take appropriate measures in response to ensure our security.
“And, of course, such confrontational rhetoric and confrontational thinking that we are now seeing in Brussels and in European capitals is, seriously at odds with the mood for finding a peaceful settlement around Ukraine.”
