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Five things to know about Australia's new prime minister
Australia’s incoming prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will be sworn in on Monday after his outgoing Prime Minister Scott Morrison conceded defeat in Friday’s election.
Albanese, 59, is a center-left politician who leads the Australian Labor Party, which is is set to form its first government in roughly a decade after picking up seats in parliament.
Albanese lives in Sydney, one of the largest Australian cities, and is a Catholic, a father and the owner of a dog named Toto.
Here’s five things to know about Australia’s new PM.
Humble beginnings
Albanese grew up with his mother in public housing inside the inner western part of Sydney, according to his online biography.
In 1984, he graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics before winning election to the Australian Parliament in 1996 to represent his home region of Grayndler.
Albanese championed Australia’s first law granting homosexual couples the same rights as heterosexual couples. He was a deputy prime minister in former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s second government, formed in 2013.
“I hope there are families in public housing watching this tonight,” Albanese said in his victory speech Saturday, “because I want every parent to be able to tell their child that no matter where you come from, the doors of opportunity are open to us all.”
First Labor PM since 2013
Albanese, who became the Labor party’s leader in 2019, is its first prime minister since 2013.
The Labor party held power from 2007 to 2013 under Rudd and Julia Gillard.
Albanese focused on issues including climate change, making child care more affordable and expanding government-assisted healthcare services.
In his victory speech on Saturday, Albanese said the “Australian people had voted for change” and he promised to “make a positive difference each and every day.”
Labor’s victory was widely seen as a referendum against Morrison, who admitted ahead of the election he could be “a bit of a bulldozer” and needed to change.
Will attend Quad summit
Albanese will attend the so-called Quad Summit in Toyko on Tuesday along with U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Morrison conceded the race despite millions of ballots still being counted because it was imperative that Australia send a leader to the summit, according to the Associated Press.
The four countries make up a new security partnership in the Indo-Pacific meant to counter China. The leaders will likely discuss matters including Beijing’s expansion in the South China Sea, which includes the construction of artificial islands and naval bases.
Outgoing trade minister Dan Tehan told Sky News Australia it was “absolutely vital” that Albanese attend the meeting, saying “it has never been so important that we get the right geo-strategic environment in the Indo-Pacific for the future of our nation.”
Climate advocate but careful on coal
Albanese has been outspoken about climate change as Australia has been beleaguered by climate-related natural disasters, including scorching wildfires that began in 2019 and burned through millions of acres.
However, Albanese has signaled that he will not phase out coal — in contrast to a further left party, the Greens, which also gained notable victories in parliament on election day.
Albanese and the Labor party are hesitant to take on the coal industry after losing elections in 2019 following combative rhetoric against the industry, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
The Labor party is behind aggressive climate action, however, including slashing carbon emissions by 43 percent compared to 2005 levels by 2030.
Australia is also one of the world’s top producers of both coal and gas and has faced calls to more deeply fight emissions and fossil fuels.
Promise of unity
Albanese pledged in his victory speech that his team “will work every day to bring Australians together. And I will lead a government worthy of the people of Australia.”
However, it’s unclear whether it will govern with a majority in parliament or rely on a coalition with the Greens or Independents.
Albanese has pledged to hold a referendum on creating an Indigenous advisory body to parliament during his three-year term.
The Labor leader also thanked Morrison in his speech, saying the outgoing prime minister had “very graciously wished me well”.
Source: TEST FEED1
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Turkey summons US ambassador over warning on police methods
ISTANBUL (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to Ankara has been summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry over a warning to U.S. citizens in Turkey about attending a political rally that referred to police crowd control methods, state-run media said Sunday.
The embassy posted a message on its website on May 18 ahead of an Istanbul rally for the opposition People’s Republican Party, or CHP, on Saturday evening.
“The Turkish National Police have used measures, including water cannons, tear gas and non-lethal projectiles, to control crowds at protests in the past,” the alert to U.S. citizens in Turkey stated. “There is a strong possibility similar measures will be employed at this demonstration.”
The state-run Anadolu news agency, citing unnamed ministry sources, reported that Ambassador Jeffry Flake was summoned so the Turkish government could express its “discomfort” over “the unfounded allegations” in the U.S. warning.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Sunday issued its own warning to Turkish citizens in the U.S. that seemed to mirror the American statement. It said, in the past, live ammunition, electroshocks, tear gas and “violent acts” had been employed by U.S. police to quell demonstrations.
Foreign embassies in Turkey regularly warn their citizens to avoid large crowds and protests.
Source: TEST FEED1
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Democrats look to defy political headwinds in Georgia
Democrats are bracing for an uphill battle in Georgia where crucial top-of-the-ticket races are slated to test the resiliency of the coalition and organizing efforts that powered Democratic victories in the state less than two years ago.
With Stacey Abrams running unchallenged for the Democratic nomination for governor and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) facing only nominal opposition in Tuesday’s primary, the party is already turning its focus to the November general elections.
But unlike in recent years, when Democrats made steep gains powered by aggressive voter mobilization efforts and opposition to former President Donald Trump, they’re facing a much bleaker political environment in 2022, one that threatens to undercut the party’s hopes of strengthening its foothold in Georgia.
“I think the thing that’s really unfortunate, but that we’re still going to have to live with, is that everything is nationalized right now,” one Democratic strategist said. “Democrats have done a really good job putting in the work in Georgia and it’s paid off and it can pay off again. But I think we also need to be realistic about what we’re up against.”
Abrams, a former state Senate minority leader who was once considered a possible running mate for President Biden, came within 55,000 votes of defeating Gov. Brian Kemp in 2018, while Warnock successfully ousted former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) in one of two runoff elections in Georgia last year that helped Democrats recapture the Senate majority.
Warnock’s win, as well as that of Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), who defeated former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) in a simultaneous runoff election, came on the heels of Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
This year, however, Abrams and Warnock are at risk of being swept up by the brutal political headwinds that threaten Democrats nationally.
Biden’s approval rating is deep underwater; a poll from The Associated Press/NORC released on Friday found that only 39 percent of U.S. adults approve of his job performance. At the same time, Americans are consumed by anxiety over rising inflation, skyrocketing gas prices and a spike in crime.
Then there’s the historical reality that the party in power almost always loses ground in Congress in midterm elections.
“You have to have good candidates, you have to have a good amount of money and you have to have a good environment,” said Jay Williams, a Georgia-based Republican strategist. “They might have two of those, but the last one — well, I don’t see any type of momentum for Democrats right now, especially after the last couple years.”
Georgia is slated to hold its primaries on Tuesday, though the general election is already taking shape. Kemp appears poised to defeat Perdue in the race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination despite Trump’s efforts to dispatch him in the primary, setting him up for a likely rematch against Abrams in November.
Likewise, former NFL player Herschel Walker, whom Trump has also endorsed, is the heavy favorite to win the Republican Senate nod.
In anticipation of that matchup, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) has already booked $7 million in fall ad reservations in an effort to defend Warnock, while its GOP counterpart, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), has taken out $9.5 million in ad reservations in the state.
Georgia Democrats, meanwhile, are already eyeing Kemp as their main target in the governor’s race and are planning a three-pronged plan of attack that seizes on his signing of a so-called “constitutional carry” law allowing residents to carry firearms without a permit, his refusal to expand Medicaid and his efforts to restrict abortion access in Georgia.
On Friday, the Georgia Democratic Party unveiled a new ad accusing Kemp of lifting COVID-19 related restrictions too quickly and “making it easier for criminals to carry handguns – just to pander to the far right.”
Democrats also argue that, if Kemp wins the nomination, he could struggle to galvanize the support of Trump loyalists, potentially jeopardizing his chances of winning a second term in November.
“Even if Kemp survives and doesn’t have a runoff, he’s going to have lasting damage from this primary, particularly on Trump’s attacks, and I think he will really struggle trying to consolidate Republican voters,” a Democratic official said.
Abrams, in particular, has sought to make reproductive rights a central theme of her campaign. After the leak of a draft ruling indicating that the Supreme Court may be poised to overturn Roe v. Wade earlier this month, Abrams pivoted away from raising money for her campaign and instead began soliciting donations for a handful of abortion rights groups in Georgia.
She has also vowed to veto any attempt to ban abortions in Georgia if she is elected governor in November.
But unlike the last time Abrams and Warnock were on the ballot, Democrats will be missing a key foil: Trump. While the former president has remained an active force in Republican politics since leaving office early last year, there are questions about just how effective a campaign tool he will remain for Democrats now that they control the levers of power in Washington.
“There’s no doubt in my mind we have to be able to generate our own excitement without Trump being on the ballot,” said Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist close to people in Abrams’s orbit. “I think no doubt that the former president gave people a reason to vote against something and at the same time vote for us. This time around, we have to give them a reason to vote for us and with us at the same time.”
Williams, the Republican strategist, said that it may be particularly difficult for Democrats to tie Kemp to Trump. A one-time ally of the former president, Kemp became one of Trump’s top midterm targets after he rebuffed his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
“In Kemp’s case, you can’t even hang Trump around him because he’s public enemy No. 1 to Trump,” Williams said. “All of the typical tools they would have available to them aren’t available to them in this race.”
The deciding factor in Georgia, according to strategists on both sides of the aisle, will be each party’s ability to turn out their voter bases.
The state has already seen record early-voting turnout. As of Thursday, more than 710,000 Georgians had cast ballots in the primary elections, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office. At the same point in 2020, that number sat at just over 263,000.
Early Republican turnout has so far outpaced that of Democrats, though Democrats have fewer competitive primaries on Tuesday’s ballot.
Still, Democrats are aware of the hurdles they’re facing this year. Early polling in the matchup between Abrams and Kemp shows the GOP incumbent leading in the race. An April survey from The Hill and Emerson College found Kemp with a 5-point advantage over Abrams.
The same poll found Warnock trailing Walker by 4 percentage points.
For Democrats, the stakes of the midterm elections in Georgia are perhaps just as symbolic as they are practical. While Republicans need a net gain of just one seat in the Senate to recapture control of the upper chamber, the once-red state also stands as a success story for Democrats, many of whom see it as their most pivotal win in 2020.
“If it had not been for Georgia, I don’t think the tectonic plates in this country would have shifted the way they had,” Seawright said. “All the things we’ve been able to do in this country are a result of Georgia.”
Source: TEST FEED1
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Giuliani to heckler at NYC parade: 'You are probably as demented as Biden'
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) got into a back-and-forth with heckler at a pro-Israel parade on Sunday, saying they were “probably as demented as [President] Biden.”
In a video of the encounter, Giuliani stops walking in the parade and, still waving a small Israel flag, confronts the heckler.
“I reduced crime you jackass!” Giuliani said toward the heckler, referring to his time as mayor.
As Giuliani walked away, one of the hecklers continued with their insults toward him, causing him to turn around again.
“You are a brainwashed a–hole,” for former mayor tells. “You are probably as demented as Biden.”
Giuliani, who was former President Trump’s attorney, was participating in the JCRC-NY Celebrate Isreal Parade, which returned for the first time in three years on Sunday.
This comes as the 77-year-old reportedly met with the House select committee investigating the Jan 6. Capitol attack for at least nine hours on Friday.
In a statement in January, Rep. Bennie Thomson (D-Miss.), the Jan. 6 committee chairman, said its request to speak with Giuliani were based on his insight to offer what was Trump thinking around the time of the riot.
The former mayor has continued to pushed unfounded claims, first echoed by Trump, that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and was caused by widespread voter fraud.
Giuliani also recently made a surprise appearance on Fox’s “The Masked Singer,” spurring a judge to walk off the set.
Source: TEST FEED1
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Top Southern Baptists stonewalled sex abuse victims: report
Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination, stonewalled and denigrated survivors of clergy sex abuse over almost two decades while seeking to protect their own reputations, according to a scathing 288-page investigative report issued Sunday.
These survivors, and other concerned Southern Baptists, repeatedly shared allegations with the SBC’s Executive Committee, “only to be met, time and time again, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some within the EC,” said the report.
The seven-month investigation was conducted by Guidepost Solutions, an independent firm contracted by the Executive Committee after delegates to last year’s national meeting pressed for an independent probe.
“Our investigation revealed that, for many years, a few senior EC leaders, along with outside counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to these reports of abuse … and were singularly focused on avoiding liability for the SBC,” the report said.
“In service of this goal, survivors and others who reported abuse were ignored, disbelieved, or met with the constant refrain that the SBC could take no action due to its polity regarding church autonomy – even if it meant that convicted molesters continued in ministry with no notice or warning to their current church or congregation,” the report added.
SBC President Ed Litton, in a statement Sunday, said he is “grieved to my core” for the victims and thanked God for their work propelling the SBC to this moment. He called on Southern Baptists to lament and prepare to change the denomination’s culture and implement reforms.
“I pray Southern Baptists will begin preparing today to take deliberate action to address these failures and chart a new course when we meet together in Anaheim,” Litton said
Among the key recommendations in the report:
— Form an independent commission and later establish a permanent administrative entity to oversee comprehensive long-term reforms concerning sexual abuse and related misconduct within the SBC.
—Create and maintain an Offender Information System to alert the community to known offenders.
— Provide a comprehensive Resource Toolbox including protocols, training, education, and practical information.
—Restrict the use of nondisclosure agreements and civil settlements which bind survivors to confidentiality in sexual abuse matters, unless requested by the survivor.
The sex abuse scandal was thrust into the spotlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News documenting hundreds of cases in Southern Baptist churches, including several in which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.
Last year, thousands of delegates at the national SBC gathering sent the message that they did not want the Executive Committee to oversee an investigation of its own actions. Instead they voted overwhelmingly to create the task force charged with providing oversight of the third-party review. SBC President Ed Litton, pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Alabama, appointed the panel.
Executive Committee members have had a week to review the report before it was publicly released Sunday afternoon. The task force’s recommendations based on Guidepost’s findings will be presented at the SBC’s annual meeting in Anaheim on June 14-15.
In February, the Executive Committee offered a public apology and a confidential monetary settlement to sexual abuse survivor Jennifer Lyell, who was mischaracterized by the denomination’s in-house news service when she decided to go public with her story in March 2019.
Lyell publicly disclosed that she was a sexual abuse survivor after learning the man she accused of abuse, a former Southern Baptist seminary professor, had recently returned to ministry. She said she came forward with her story to prevent the man from engaging in further abusive acts.
Source: TEST FEED1
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Zelensky's wife on war toll: 'Our family was torn apart'
Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska appeared alongside her husband, President Volodymyr Zelensky, for a rare television interview in which she spoke about the family’s experience during Moscow’s invasion of their country.
“Our family was torn apart, as every other Ukrainian family,” Zelenska said in an interview on Ukrainian television network ICTV, according to The Washington Post.
“He lives at his job. We didn’t see him at all for two and a half months,” she also said of Zelensky who has led the country as a wartime president. She added that she was “grateful” for the interview as time to spend with her husband.
But when asked if the war had “basically taken her husband away,” Zelenska said “nobody takes my husband away from me, not even the war.”
At the start of the invasion, a defiant Zelensky and his family remained in Ukraine despite knowing that he and his family were Moscow’s top targets.
While Zelenska made her first public appearance since the start of Russia’s invasion during a visit earlier this month with first lady Jill Biden, she has offered support to her country via social media posts before that.
“Today I will not have panic and tears. I will be calm and confident. My children are looking at me. I will be next to them. And next to my husband. And together with you. I love you all! I love Ukraine!,” she said in an Instagram post at the start of the invasion.
Zelenska has previously described what it was like when the invasion began in an interview conducted via email with Vogue.
“I wouldn’t say there was panic,” she said.
“Confusion perhaps. ‘What should we do with the children?’ ‘Wait,’ he said, ‘I’ll let you know. Just in case, gather essentials and documents.’ And he left the house,” she said.
Source: TEST FEED1
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A new approach to defending Taiwan at the UN
Bowing to Chinese pressure for the fifth year in a row, the World Health Organization (WHO) is set to arbitrarily deny Taiwan’s request to attend the global health body’s annual agenda-setting meeting this month in Geneva. But, if the Biden administration and Congress are serious about undercutting Beijing’s campaign to delegitimize its democratic rival, then Washington should condition future WHO funding on the reinstatement of Taiwan to its rightful place at the United Nations (UN) specialized agency.
The Chinese Communist Party has long feared recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state and its potential membership at the UN. The outpouring of sympathy for Ukraine following Russia’s unprovoked invasion has aroused fears that Taiwan would muster similar support if Beijing sought to achieve reunification by force. In response, Beijing has doubled down in claiming that the two scenarios are “totally different” and that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China’s territory. Yet China’s confidence has clearly been shaken. The result: Beijing will intensify its efforts to diplomatically isolate Taiwan, having already succeeded in reducing the number of countries that recognize Taipei from 20 in 2011 to only 13 today.
Luckily for China, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has enacted sweeping measures limiting Taiwan’s meaningful participation in UN activities. Under Guterres’ leadership, the UN has even denied Taiwanese diplomats credentials to access UN facilities. To justify Taiwan’s exclusion, Guterres has cited Beijing’s preferred interpretation of UN General Assembly resolution 2758, which, in 1971, awarded the Chinese seat at the UN to the People’s Republic of China based in Beijing. Still, this resolution did not prohibit Taiwan from participating at the UN and for decades following 2758’s adoption Taiwan regularly contributed to UN initiatives. Perhaps coincidentally, Beijing’s annual financial commitments to the UN have surged to more than $367 million — an increase of 75 percent — during Guterres’ term, making China now the second-largest UN contributor after the United States.
Much like Guterres, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ hostility towards Taiwan has been evident since the start of his tenure in 2017. Back then, and with Beijing’s support, Tedros unilaterally upended years of precedent by prohibiting Taiwan from serving as a non-voting observer during WHO meetings, like this month’s World Health Assembly. That ban remained in effect throughout the pandemic, even as WHO experts hailed Taiwan’s exemplary response to the public health crisis. Regrettably, Taiwan’s marginalization at the WHO appears unlikely to change anytime soon. That’s because Tedros is on track to be reelected this month to a second five-year term after the Biden administration declined to nominate a more qualified, objective candidate to lead the beleaguered global health organization.
Perhaps sensing that Taiwan’s exclusion from the WHO risks becoming the norm rather than the exception, bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill last month directing the State Department to provide Congress with regular updates regarding U.S. efforts to reestablish Taiwan’s WHO status. The bill, which President Biden should sign into law, is certainly a step in the right direction. But, if the Biden administration is to be successful, its negotiators need more than a strategy — they require leverage.
One novel concept would be for Congress, the WHO’s third largest funder, to condition a portion of its contributions on Taiwan’s eventual re-instatement to the WHO. More specifically, Congress could mandate that Washington’s voluntary contributions, which totaled $415 million in 2021, be disbursed in two conditional tranches: the first following a stated commitment from Tedros that he plans to invite Taiwan to 2023’s World Health Assembly, and the second after Taiwan’s successful participation in next year’s event.
This approach would not jeopardize the WHO’s most pressing operations, such as its highly successful measles and polio vaccination campaigns. The reason: such initiatives are partially funded by Washington’s mandatory WHO dues, which totaled an additional $285 million last year, and contributions from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Moreover, if executed correctly, this appropriations maneuver could potentially be applied to other UN entities and multilateral institutions that have erroneously excluded Taiwan. That includes the International Civil Aviation Organization, a Chinese-led UN body that adamantly refused to share information about aviation operations with the Taiwanese government even as COVID-19 spread globally.
As Secretary of State Antony Blinken remarked last year, “Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UN system is not a political issue, but a pragmatic one.” Working together, members of Congress from both political parties can and should help the Biden administration make good on its promise to defend Taiwan’s international standing. If not at the WHO, then when?
Craig Singleton, a former U.S. diplomat, is a senior China fellow at the non-partisan Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Source: TEST FEED1
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Jif peanut butter products recalled over salmonella concerns
The company that makes Jif peanut butter is recalling dozens of products after reporting a potential salmonella contamination in jars produced at a Kentucky facility.
J.M. Smucker announced the recall in a Friday press release, that detailed the immediate pulling of more than 50 types of the popular Jif products off national shelves in coordination with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It’s unclear exactly how many products are being recalled.
The recalled products stretch from the 16 ounce creamy peanut butter jars to the 40 ounce natural creamy peanut butter bulk jars.
J.M. Smucker said the products may be contaminated with salmonella, a bacterial organism that can seep into the bloodstream and cause potentially fatal infections in the young, elderly and frail.
The FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported they were investigating a salmonella outbreak among products linked to a Jif production facility in Lexington, Kentucky.
Of the people with salmonella infection, the CDC found that “five out of five people reported consuming peanut butter and four of the five people specifically reported consuming different varieties of Jif brand peanut butter prior to becoming ill.”
According to the FDA, there are 14 total illnesses and two hospitalizations spread across multiple states: Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, Ohio, North Carolina, New York, South Carolina, Virginia, Texas and Washington.
There are no known deaths related to the outbreak. The last illness was reported on May 1.
Source: TEST FEED1
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New Zealand's Ardern to meet with senators during trip to boost trade, tourism
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is set to meet with U.S. senators this week in an effort to boost trade and tourism between the two countries.
“New Zealand’s relationship with the United States is one of our most enduring and significant. This mission will feature political and security engagement as well as tourism and trade promotion,” Ardern’s office said in a statement, according to Reuters.
Bilateral trade between the two countries was worth $12 billion last year, according to Reuters. U.S.-based tourists were the third-largest tourism market for New Zealand before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ardern said earlier this month that she expects New Zealand to fully reopen its border at the end of July, Reuters reported.
“With travellers planning their visits months before coming in the New Zealand summer, now is the right time to be visible in the U.S. market letting Americans know we are open for business and travel,” Ardern said.
Ardern was also tapped to be the commencement speaker for Harvard University’s 2022 commencement ceremony.
Ardern’s itinerary in the U.S. this week does not include a meeting with President Biden, who returns from a trip to Asia on Tuesday.
The Hill has reached out to the White House and Jacinda Ardern’s office for comment.
Source: TEST FEED1