Harris defends immigration shift, might name Republican to cabinet

Harris defends immigration shift, might name Republican to cabinet
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris talks as she makes a stop at a volunteer appreciation event at The Gray in downtown Savannah, Georgia., on Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo)
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Updated 30 August 2024
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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.


EU sanctions Iran over ballistic missiles for Russia

EU sanctions Iran over ballistic missiles for Russia
Updated 57 min 20 sec ago
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EU sanctions Iran over ballistic missiles for Russia

EU sanctions Iran over ballistic missiles for Russia
  • European Union foreign ministers approved the sanctions on seven entities

BRUSSELS: The EU imposed sanctions on Monday on prominent Iranian officials and entities, including airlines, accused of taking part in the transfer of missiles and drones for Russia to use against Ukraine.
European Union foreign ministers approved the sanctions on seven entities, including Iran Air, and seven individuals, including deputy defense minister Seyed Hamzeh Ghalandari and senior officials of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, the bloc said.
Leading European powers Britain, France and Germany adopted similar sanctions last month over Iranian missile transfers to Russia, as did the United States.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the adoption of the sanctions by the entire bloc, while adding: “More is needed.”
“The Iranian regime’s support to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is unacceptable and must stop,” she posted on X.
Two other Iranian airlines, Saha Airlines and Mahan Air, were hit under the EU measures, along with two procurement firms blamed for the “transfer and supply, through transnational procurement networks, of Iran-made UAVs and related components and technologies to Russia.”
The sanctions also target two companies involved in the production of propellant used to launch rockets and missiles.
Those targeted are subject to an asset freeze and banned from traveling to the European Union.
Iran rejects Western accusations it has transferred missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine.
According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, dozens of Russian military personnel have received training in Iran on using the Fath-360 missile, which has a range of 120 kilometers (75 miles).


UN refugee chief urges states to drop border controls as displacement crises worsen

UN refugee chief urges states to drop border controls as displacement crises worsen
Updated 8 min 3 sec ago
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UN refugee chief urges states to drop border controls as displacement crises worsen

UN refugee chief urges states to drop border controls as displacement crises worsen
  • More than 123 million people displaced around the world
  • Continued air strikes set to worsen Lebanon displacement
  • Calls for drastic increase in support for Sudanese refugees

GENEVA: The head of the UN refugee agency warned on Monday that displacement crises in Lebanon and Sudan could worsen, but said tighter border measures were not the solution, calling them ineffective and sometimes unlawful.
Addressing more than 100 diplomats and ministers in Geneva at UNHCR’s annual meeting, Filippo Grandi said an unprecedented 123 million people are now displaced around the world by conflicts, persecution, poverty and climate change.
“You might then ask: what can be done? For a start, do not focus only on your borders,” he said, urging leaders instead to look at the reasons people are fleeing their homes.
“We must seek to address the root causes of displacement, and work toward solutions,” he said. “I beg you all that we continue to work — together and with humility — to seize every opportunity to find solutions for refugees.”
Without naming countries, Grandi said initiatives to outsource, externalize or even suspend asylum schemes were in breach of international law, and he offered countries help in finding fair, fast and lawful asylum schemes.
Western governments are under growing domestic pressure to get tougher on asylum seekers and Grandi has previously criticized a plan by the former British government to transfer them to Rwanda.
In the same speech he warned that in Lebanon, where more than one million people have fled their homes due to a growing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the situation could worsen further.
“Surely, if airstrikes continue, many more will be displaced and some will also decide to move on to other countries.”
He called for a drastic increase in support for refugees in Sudan’s civil war, saying lack of resources was already driving them across the Mediterranean Sea and even across the Channel to Britain.
“In this lethal equation, something has got to give. Otherwise, nobody should be surprised if displacement keeps growing, in numbers but also in geographic spread,” he said.
The UNHCR response to the crisis that aims to help a portion of the more than 11 million people displaced inside Sudan or in neighboring countries is less than 1/3 funded, Grandi said.
The number of displaced people around the world has more than doubled in the past decade.
Grandi, set to serve as high commissioner until Dec. 2025, said the agency’s funding for this year had recently improved due to US support but remained “well below the needs.”


Scottish nationalist politician expelled by party over ‘utterly abhorrent’ Gaza remarks

Scottish nationalist politician expelled by party over ‘utterly abhorrent’ Gaza remarks
Updated 14 October 2024
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Scottish nationalist politician expelled by party over ‘utterly abhorrent’ Gaza remarks

Scottish nationalist politician expelled by party over ‘utterly abhorrent’ Gaza remarks
  • John Mason: Israel would have ‘killed 10 times as many’ people if it wanted to commit genocide
  • SNP spokesperson: ‘To flippantly dismiss the death of more than 40,000 Palestinians is completely unacceptable’

LONDON: A Scottish National Party politician has been expelled for “utterly abhorrent” comments about the war in Gaza, The Guardian reported.

John Mason, the member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Shettleston, said on social media in August: “If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they would have killed 10 times as many.”

It came in response to a post by former SNP colleague Sandra White, who wrote: “We know what Israelis hope to achieve they are already committing genocide in Gaza.” She added that “innocent children are being massacred.”

A party spokesperson said of Mason’s remarks: “To flippantly dismiss the death of more than 40,000 Palestinians is completely unacceptable. There can be no room in the SNP for this kind of intolerance.”

Mason’s comments prompted a furious backlash from party supporters and colleagues, with former SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford posting on X: “You are not fit for public office. You are an embarrassment and not fit to represent anyone.”

On Sunday, Mason said on X: “Very disappointed to be expelled from the SNP over my comments on Israel, Gaza, and whether or not there has been genocide.

“I continue to believe that we should be able to tolerate a variety of views within the party as long as we are all committed to Scottish independence.”

Mason posted on Facebook that he stood by his remarks, but that his “primary desire” for the conflict is “peace talks, negotiations, and eventually peace.”

He added: “Too many lives have already been lost in Israel, Gaza, and beyond and, as I said when I spoke in parliament, many people feel that Israel has moved from a position of self-defence to seeking revenge.

“However, I personally do not believe that Israel has tried to commit, has committed, or is committing genocide.

“They certainly have the ability to kill many more Palestinians than they have done. That is not to say that the loss of life already is not too many.”
 


Philippines seeks to enhance energy security with new Saudi cooperation

Philippines seeks to enhance energy security with new Saudi cooperation
Updated 14 October 2024
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Philippines seeks to enhance energy security with new Saudi cooperation

Philippines seeks to enhance energy security with new Saudi cooperation
  • Under national energy plan, Manila wants to increase renewable sources to 50 percent by 2040 
  • Saudi-Philippine cooperation can also explore tech, solutions related to climate change mitigation 

MANILA: The Philippines wants to expand its international energy partnerships and improve energy security with a new cooperation with Saudi Arabia, its Department of Energy said on Monday ahead of an official trip to the Kingdom.

Manila has been exploring clean and sustainable options to generate power as the country regularly suffers outages and faces high tariffs. Coal remains the main source of electricity in the Southeast Asian nation, accounting for more than half of its power generation. 

A Philippine energy mission was headed to Saudi Arabia on Monday for a two-day trip “aimed at enhancing energy security, driving economic growth, and fostering sustainable development,” the DoE said in a statement. 

“A major highlight of the mission is the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Energy of the KSA.” 

The latest mission follows President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s trip to Riyadh last October, during which a $4.26 billion investment agreement was signed with Saudi business leaders. 

At the time, some Saudi state-owned enterprises had expressed interest in investing in the Philippine energy sector, the DoE said. 

The preliminary agreement will provide “a framework for cooperation on key areas,” including renewable energy and natural gas, as well as relevant technologies and solutions related to climate change mitigation. 

Under the Philippine Energy Plan, the government aims to increase the share of renewable sources in the energy mix from 22 percent currently to 50 percent by 2040. 

Philippine authorities expect the country’s power demand to increase almost fourfold from 2020 to 2040, especially as it remains dependent on imported fossil fuels and has insufficient renewables.

“Partnerships with Saudi Arabia extend beyond addressing the current energy needs,” the energy department said, adding that the two countries can explore possibilities for joint research and development projects, policy exchange, and capacity building in areas such as carbon capture, use and storage, and hydrogen.

“As global efforts to transition to cleaner and more sustainable energy sources intensify, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia can cooperate in the development and deployment of low-carbon technologies.”
 


Three Pakistani policemen killed in attack at police HQ

Three Pakistani policemen killed in attack at police HQ
Updated 14 October 2024
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Three Pakistani policemen killed in attack at police HQ

Three Pakistani policemen killed in attack at police HQ
  • Three assailants were killed by police

PESHAWAR: At least three policemen were killed in northwest Pakistan when Islamist militants stormed a district police headquarters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Monday, a police source told Reuters.
The attack on the complex, which houses both the district police headquarters and a residential complex, was ongoing, the high-ranking police source said, adding that the assailants, who included suicide bombers, had been “pinned down” in the area.
Three assailants were killed by police, he added.
The source, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said three policemen were killed while resisting the assault on the Police Lines of District Bannu, which borders the restive North Waziristan tribal district on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Islamist militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack, a spokesperson for the group said.
The roads around the complex have been closed to traffic as security forces moved to neutralize the remaining attackers, the police source added.
Bannu is about 350 kilometers from Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, which is under strict security lockdown due to the arrival of Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Monday ahead of a regional leaders’ meeting this week.