EU Commission head von der Leyen elected for second term

EU Commission head von der Leyen elected for second term
Ursula von der Leyen was making her final pitch Thursday to lawmakers at the European Parliament ahead of a vote on whether to grant her a second five-year term as president of the European Union's executive commission. (AP)
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Updated 18 July 2024
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EU Commission head von der Leyen elected for second term

EU Commission head von der Leyen elected for second term
  • Von der Leyen promises new ‘defense union’
  • Commission chief also vows to stick to climate targets

STRASBOURG: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was elected for a second term on Thursday after pledging to create a continental “defense union” and stay the course on Europe’s green transition while cushioning its burden on industry.
Members of the European Parliament backed von der Leyen’s bid for another five-year term at the helm of the European Union’s powerful executive body with 401 votes in her favor and 284 against in a secret ballot in the 720-member chamber.
In an address to the Parliament in Strasbourg earlier in the day, von der Leyen laid out a program focused on prosperity and security, shaped by the challenges of Russia’s war in Ukraine, global economic competition and climate change.
“The next five years will define Europe’s place in the world for the next five decades. It will decide whether we shape our own future or let it be shaped by events or by others,” von der Leyen said ahead of a secret ballot on her candidacy.
She stressed the need not to backtrack on the “Green Deal” transformation of the EU economy to fight climate change — a key pledge for Green lawmakers, who joined center-right, center-left and liberal groups in backing her for the post.
After pledging to support Ukraine for as long as it takes in its fight against Russia, von der Leyen said Europe’s liberty was at stake and it must invest more in defense.
Von der Leyen, a center-right former German defense minister, pledged to create “a true European Defense Union,” with flagship projects on air and cyber defense.
The plan sparked criticism from the Kremlin, which said it
reflected an attitude of “militarization (and) confrontation.”
Von der Leyen blasted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s recent visit to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow as an “appeasement mission,” winning broad applause from lawmakers.
Defense policy in Europe has traditionally been the domain of national governments and NATO.
But following Russia’s attack on Ukraine and amid uncertainty over how much Europe will be able to rely on the United States for its protection should Donald Trump win the US presidential election in November, the European Commission is seeking to push more joint European defense projects.
Von der Leyen also promised a raft of climate policies including a legally-binding EU target to cut emissions 90 percent by 2040, compared to 1990 levels.
She also pledged new measures to help European industries stay competitive while they invest in curbing emissions.
Green support
The Greens’ decision to join the informal alliance of parties that supports von der Leyen ensured her margin of victory was fairly comfortable. She needed 361 votes to secure a majority in the chamber.
Her own coalition of the center-right, center-left and liberals has 401 seats, but some of its members were expected to vote against her in the secret vote.
She might also promised tighter EU border controls and stronger police cooperation against crime.
Von der Leyen’s re-election provides continuity in the European Union’s key institution at a time of external and internal challenges — including mounting support for far-right and euroskeptic political parties in the 27-nation bloc.
In the coming weeks, she will propose her team of commissioners, who will face individual hearings from lawmakers before a final vote on the whole Commission later in the year.


Powerful Typhoon Shanshan slams Japan, multiple deaths reported

Powerful Typhoon Shanshan slams Japan, multiple deaths reported
Updated 12 sec ago
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Powerful Typhoon Shanshan slams Japan, multiple deaths reported

Powerful Typhoon Shanshan slams Japan, multiple deaths reported

OITA, Japan: One of Japan’s strongest typhoons in decades dumped torrential rain across southern regions on Thursday, leaving at least five people dead and injuring dozens, local media reported, as authorities warned millions to seek higher ground due to possible flooding and landslides.

Typhoon Shanshan packed gusts of up to 252 kilometers (157 miles) per hour as it smashed into Japan’s main southern island of Kyushu early Thursday, making it the most powerful storm this year and one of the strongest at landfall since 1960.

The storm then weakened, with maximum gusts of 162 kph at 5:00 p.m. (0800 GMT), the weather office said, but it was still dumping heavy rain across Kyushu and beyond as it moved slowly toward the main island of Honshu.

Five people have been found dead in the storm, Jiji Press reported, including a man whose two-story home collapsed in Tokushima Prefecture.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) warned that “the risk of a disaster due to heavy rain can rapidly escalate in western Japan as Friday approaches.”

Even before Shanshan hit, heavy precipitation led to three members of the same family being killed in a landslide late Tuesday in Aichi prefecture around 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from Kyushu.

Authorities issued their highest alert in several areas of the country, with more than five million people advised to evacuate, although it was unclear how many did.

Kunisaki city in the Oita region of Kyushu warned inhabitants to “evacuate to a safe place or higher place such as the second floor of your house” because of the risk of flooding.

At least 80 people were injured across Kyushu, the JMA said.

Rains turned rivers into raging torrents while winds smashed windows and blew tiles off roofs. TV images showed flooded roads and power lines being repaired.

The coastal city of Miyazaki, littered with debris from nearly 200 damaged buildings, reported 25 injuries — including some from a tornado.

Some parts of Miyazaki prefecture saw record rains for August, with the town of Mizato recording a staggering 791.5 millimeters (31 inches) in 48 hours, the JMA said.

Worried student Aoi Nishimoto, 18, said he had called his family in Miyazaki to see if they were safe.

“Our home is fine, but there was a tornado in Miyazaki and power went out in some places,” he told AFP in Kyushu’s main city of Fukuoka.

“This year, I am away from my parents’ home for the first time. So it’s a bit scary being all alone,” fellow student Rio Ohtsuru, 19, told AFP.

“Maybe I will look for a flashlight in case of a power outage,” she said.

Kyushu’s utility operator said 187,010 houses were without power elsewhere on the island.

Shanshan comes in the wake of Typhoon Ampil, which dumped heavy rain that disrupted hundreds of flights and trains this month but caused only minor injuries and damage.

Typhoons in the region have been forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change, according to a study released last month.

Another released by World Weather Attribution (WWA) on Thursday said that climate change turbocharged Typhoon Gaemi, which killed dozens of people across the Philippines, Taiwan and China this year.

In the city of Usa, retiree Fukashi Oishi looked forlornly at an old tree opposite his house that was already mature when he was a child but had snapped and fallen on the road.

“Oh, it’s so sad,” he told AFP.

Auto giant Toyota suspended production at all 14 of its factories in Japan.

Nissan and Honda also halted operations at their Kyushu plants, as did chipmakers including Tokyo Electron, reports said.

Kyushu is a hub for the semiconductor industry, with chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company opening a plant there in February.

Japan Airlines and ANA canceled more than 1,000 domestic flights and four international flights for Thursday and Friday, affecting more than 44,000 passengers.

Rail operators suspended most Shinkansen bullet trains between Kyushu’s Hakata and Tokyo, and said services would be disrupted elsewhere on Friday.


UK’s Starmer says Harris has brought ‘profound change’ to US race

UK’s Starmer says Harris has brought ‘profound change’ to US race
Updated 6 min 33 sec ago
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UK’s Starmer says Harris has brought ‘profound change’ to US race

UK’s Starmer says Harris has brought ‘profound change’ to US race

BERLIN: UK leader Keir Starmer has said that US Vice President Kamala Harris replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee has shaken up the White House race.

Since Biden, 81, dropped out five weeks ago due to concerns about his age, 59-year-old Harris has reinvigorated her party, edging ahead of Republican candidate Donald Trump in opinion polls.

Delegates rode a wave of optimism as she was officially crowned last week at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, a gathering attended by senior figures from Starmer’s Labour Party.

The British Prime Minister touched on the US election during a huddle with UK political reporters Wednesday during a trip to Berlin, where Starmer met German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

“There’s obviously been a profound change in the last few weeks,” said Starmer, when asked by AFP if he had been impressed by the energy that Harris has injected into the campaign.

“I think everyone can see that. You saw the convention just in recent days,” he added.

Center-left Labour, back in power in Britain after 14 years in opposition, has long had close links with the Democratic Party, seeing it as a sort of unofficial sister party.

In an interview with the New Statesman magazine published earlier this month, London’s Labour mayor Sadiq Khan said it was “obvious” his support lay with the Democrats.

“I’m a member of the Labour Party — we’re a social democratic party. I want the Democrats to win,” said Khan, who has had a long-running feud with Trump.

“It’s no secret many Labour Party members go and volunteer for the Democrats during presidential elections.

“We shouldn’t pretend otherwise. Many of my staffers helped all three: (Barack) Obama, (Hillary) Clinton and Biden,” Khan added.

Starmer is taking a neutral stance on the election, although experts say a Trump presidency could pose difficulties, particularly with doubts over the Republican’s support for NATO and Ukraine.

It might also be more awkward: Starmer’s foreign minister David Lammy called Trump “a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath” in 2018.

However, Lammy was more diplomatic earlier this year, saying in a speech that Trump’s “attitude to European security is often misunderstood.”

In his comments in the German capital, Starmer said “ultimately, of course, it is going to be a matter for the American people to determine, and we will work with whoever they elect into office.”

“The special relationship we have between our two countries has been there for a very long time, for a very good reason.”


Pop group ABBA ask Donald Trump to stop using their songs, but Trump team says they have the OK

Pop group ABBA ask Donald Trump to stop using their songs, but Trump team says they have the OK
Updated 8 min 11 sec ago
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Pop group ABBA ask Donald Trump to stop using their songs, but Trump team says they have the OK

Pop group ABBA ask Donald Trump to stop using their songs, but Trump team says they have the OK
  • The Republican presidential nominee’s campaign says it has permission from the performing rights organizations ASCAP and BMI
  • ABBA joins a long list of performers, including Celine Dion and Beyoncé, who have objected to Trump using their songs

NEW YORK: Swedish supergroup ABBA has asked Donald Trump to stop using their music at campaign rallies, but the Republican presidential nominee’s campaign says it has permission.
“ABBA has recently discovered the unauthorized use of their music and videos at a Trump event through videos that appeared online,” said a statement to The Associated Press from the band, whose hits include “Waterloo,” “The Winner Takes It All” and “Money, Money, Money.”
“As a result, ABBA and its representative has promptly requested the removal and deletion of such content. No request has been received; therefore, no permission or license has been granted.”
A spokesman for the Trump campaign said it had obtained a license. “The campaign had a license to play ABBA music through our agreement with BMI and ASCAP,” the spokesperson told the AP.
ABBA joins a long list of performers who’ve objected to Trump using their songs. Ahead of the 2020 election, that included Bruce Springsteen, Rihanna, Phil Collins, Pharrell, John Fogerty, Neil Young, Eddy Grant, Panic! at the Disco, R.E.M. and Guns N’ Roses.
This cycle, Celine Dion has asked the candidate to stop using “My Heart Will Go On” and Beyoncé blocked Trump from using her song “Freedom” in a campaign video. In 2016, Adele asked Trump to quit playing her songs at political rallies.
Campaigns don’t need an artist’s express permission to play their songs at rallies as long as the political organization or the venue has gotten what’s known as a blanket license from the performing rights organizations ASCAP and BMI.
Swedish daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet said its reporter in July attended a Trump rally in Minnesota where “The Winner Takes it All” was played. Universal Music in Sweden said videos had surfaced of ABBA’s music being played at at least one Trump event.
ABBA, who have scored 20 songs in the Billboard Hot 100, mostly in the 1970s and 1980s, released a comeback album, “Voyage,” in 2021.


Harris defends immigration shift, might name Republican to cabinet

Harris defends immigration shift, might name Republican to cabinet
Updated 21 min 7 sec ago
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Harris defends immigration shift, might name Republican to cabinet

Harris defends immigration shift, might name Republican to cabinet
  • “My value around what we need to do to secure our border — that value has not changed," she said in her first formal interview since nomination
  • She also no longer wants a ban on fracking, an energy production method that employs many people in Pennsylvania, one of a handful of swing states that could decide the election

SAVANNAH, Georgia: Kamala Harris defended some personal shifts in policy toward the center on Thursday and said she might name a Republican to her cabinet if elected, in her first interview with a mainstream news organization since Democrats nominated her for president.
“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is, my values have not changed,” she told CNN anchor Dana Bash in an early excerpt from the interview to be broadcast at 9 p.m. ET (0100 GMT on Friday).
Harris has moved more toward the center on some issues from the time she ran for president in 2020 until she took over from President Joe Biden as the Democrats’ choice to face Republican former President Donald Trump in the Nov. 5 election.
She has toughened her position on migration along the southern US border with Mexico. She also no longer wants a ban on fracking, an energy production method that employs many people in Pennsylvania, one of a handful of swing states that could decide the election.
“My value around what we need to do to secure our border — that value has not changed. I spent two terms as the attorney general of California prosecuting trans-national criminal organizations, violations of American laws, regarding the illegal passage of guns, drugs and human beings across our border. My values have not changed,” she said.
Harris’ conversation was aimed at showing her in command of the issues. Some critics suggested she may be less polished in unscripted settings after she led Democrats’ turnaround with a series of forceful campaign speeches.
Harris, joined by her vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, also discussed the possibility of adding a Republican to her potential cabinet, saying she wanted a diversity of opinion.
“I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my cabinet who was a Republican,” she said.
The US vice president has eschewed formal interviews and press conferences during her rapid rise to the top of the Democratic ticket.

Though she has taken questions from journalists on the campaign trail and been interviewed on TikTok in recent days, she had, until Thursday, not done a one-on-one interview with a major network or print journalist since President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign on July 21 and endorsed her.
Asked on Aug. 8 when she would do her first big interview, Harris said she wanted to do one by the end of the month.
Bash, who co-moderated the June 27 debate between Donald Trump and Biden that hastened the president’s departure from the race, conducted the interview in Savannah, Georgia, as Harris and Walz continue their bus tour of the battleground state.
Harris’ lack of interviews has sparked criticism from opponents, and some concern among supporters, that she is less sharp in spontaneous settings than she is at rallies or speeches where prepared remarks and a Teleprompter are at her disposal.
Trump frequently holds press conferences and offers interviews to conservative news outlets. He often uses them to criticize Harris and Biden rather than discuss his own policy aims in detail.
As Harris’ bus caravan left her Savannah hotel on Thursday, several dozen Trump supporters with signs and banners braved torrential rain to line the streets.
She and Walz arrived at Kim’s Cafe, a Black-owned restaurant, in the early afternoon to tape the interview.
Before Harris picked him as her running mate for the Nov. 5 election, Walz did a string of interviews with major television networks.
Harris and Walz kicked off their bus tour of Georgia on Tuesday, as they worked to woo voters in a state Biden narrowly won in 2020, and which could play a decisive role in this year’s election.


UK PM Starmer supports tougher outdoor smoking rules to ease pressure on health service

A woman smokes outside a pub in Covent Garden, London, Britain, August 29, 2024. (Reuters)
A woman smokes outside a pub in Covent Garden, London, Britain, August 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Updated 29 August 2024
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UK PM Starmer supports tougher outdoor smoking rules to ease pressure on health service

A woman smokes outside a pub in Covent Garden, London, Britain, August 29, 2024. (Reuters)
  • UK government is considering a smoking ban in pub and restaurant gardens, outdoor sports stadiums, children’s parks and pavements near hospitals and universities

LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday he supported the idea of banning smoking in some outdoor spaces, including pub gardens, as a way of reducing the pressure on the state-run National Health Service and the cost to taxpayers.
While precise details would be worked out later, Starmer said 80,000 people die each year from smoking and he wanted to reduce deaths from preventable diseases.
Asked if he supported a ban on smoking in some public places, including pub gardens, Starmer told Channel 4 News: “I want us to move to a smoke-free environment, want to reduce those preventable deaths. I want to reduce the burden on the NHS, desperately needed ... and obviously I want to reduce the burden on the taxpayer. So, yes, I am supportive.”
The government is considering a smoking ban in pub and restaurant gardens and ­terraces, outdoor sports stadiums, children’s parks and pavements near hospitals and universities, according to documents seen by The Sun newspaper.
Britain’s center-left Labour Party, which won a general election last month, said in its campaign manifesto it planned to introduce some of the world’s strictest anti-smoking rules by banning younger people from smoking.
The previous Conservative government had announced similar measures but the plan failed to become law before the election was called.
Britain banned smoking in almost all enclosed public spaces, including bars and workplaces, in 2007. Cancer Research UK said this led to an estimated 1.9 million fewer smokers, and research in the British Medical Journal estimated there were 1,200 fewer hospital admissions for heart attacks in the year following.
Britain’s hospitality industry warned a stricter smoking ban could force some businesses to close.
“A ban on smoking in outdoor spaces comes with the prospect of serious economic harm to hospitality venues,” said Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of trade body UKHospitality.
“This ban would not only affect pubs and nightclubs, but hotels, cafes and restaurants.”
About 6.4 million people in Britain were smokers in 2022, the Office for National Statistics has estimated, around 13 percent of the adult population.
That is much lower than other European countries such as Italy, Germany and France, where between 18 percent-23 percent of adults smoke, according to OECD figures.
The government estimates smoking costs Britain’s health services 17 billion pounds ($22.37 billion) a year and there is strong support for greater restrictions on smokers from medical and health care experts.