ReportWire

Tag: Public opinion

  • Avid search for missing Texas rodeo goat bringing residents of a small rural county together

    Avid search for missing Texas rodeo goat bringing residents of a small rural county together

    [ad_1]

    The search for a rodeo goat that has been missing for more than a week has the residents of a rural South Texas county enthralled as they are using horses, ATVs and even contemplating utilizing a helicopter to find the missing animal

    RAYMONDVILLE, Texas — First there was Gone Girl. Now there is Gone Goat.

    The search for a rodeo goat that has been missing for more than a week has the residents of a rural South Texas county enthralled as they are using horses, ATVs and even contemplating utilizing a helicopter to find the missing animal.

    Local businesses have donated nearly 90 prizes and gifts worth more than $5,000, including brisket, frescoes and salon service, as a reward for the person who finds the goat.

    “This has just gotten bigger than we ever dreamed. Our county is a really small county, about 20,000 population and a mostly agriculture, farming and ranching community. And we’re very much one big family … So, we’re excited that everybody wants to find our goat,” said Alison Savage, president of the Willacy County Livestock Show and Fair.

    Residents, including families, have been scouring cotton and sugar cane fields since the goat escaped from a pen in the county’s rodeo arena near Raymondville on July 15 following a youth rodeo. On Sunday, possible goat tracks were spotted in a cotton field near Lyford, south of Raymondville.

    When the goat first went missing, it didn’t have a name. But after a poll on the livestock show’s Facebook page, the goat was named Willy, short for Willacy County, Savage said. While the goat has a name, Savage said officials are not sure if Willy is a boy or a girl.

    The livestock show has been posting regular updates on its Facebook page. The search has also been a boon for the livestock show, as residents and businesses have donated hundreds of dollars to make improvements to the nonprofit’s arena and other facilities.

    “He’s hiding from us somewhere. But we’re getting closer. We’re going to find him” Savage said.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • German leader confident that a surging far-right party will shrink again before the next election

    German leader confident that a surging far-right party will shrink again before the next election

    [ad_1]

    BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed optimism Friday that support for a far-right party which has been surging in the polls lately will shrink to previous levels again by the time of the next national election in 2025.

    The far-right Alternative for Germany party received 10.3% of the vote in the last national election in 2021 — a slight decline from 2017, when it got 12.6% in the wake of an influx of migrants to Europe. Recent polls have shown support for the party, known by its German acronym AfD, at around 20% and ahead of Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats.

    “I’m quite confident that AfD won’t perform much differently at the next federal election than it did at the last,” Scholz told reporters at his annual summer news conference in Berlin.

    The German leader said his strategy to achieve this is to pursue policies “that give citizens enough reasons to believe in a good future” — including by showing that the country is in control of its borders and can curb irregular migration.

    Scholz also appealed to mainstream parties in Germany’s 16 states to keep the consequences of their rivalry in mind. Some of those regions will hold state votes this year and in 2024 that are seen as key bellwethers for the next national election.

    He argued that the “democratic parties” and their supporters make up a broad majority in every state and that there has been no “normalization” of far-right ideology in mainstream society.

    Aside from fears about growing migration, AfD has benefitted from skepticism in parts of the electorate about the government’s plans to tackle climate change and Germany’s military aid to Ukraine. The German domestic intelligence agency recently warned that anti-war views and climate disinformation are partly spread by Russia-backed channels and pro-Moscow influencers.

    Scholz insisted that the gradual increase in support Germany is providing Ukraine — which includes 17 billion euros ($19 billion) worth of arms such as high-end Leopard 2 tanks and advanced air-defense systems — enjoys mainstream backing: “Acting carefully, coordinating with friends and allies, not going it alone and always considering carefully whether the next step is right.”

    On climate change, he played down the recent dilution of a bill on replacing fossil fuel heating in millions of German homes following strong pushback from the opposition, tabloid media and even members of his own three-party coalition.

    Scholz admitted he wasn’t happy with months of bickering over the bill between his junior governing partners, the libertarian Free Democratic Party and the environmentalist Greens, but made clear he could live with the compromise, which still needs to be passed by parliament.

    “I’m in favor of letting things slide sometimes,” he said.

    Germany has seen increasingly bitter public debates lately on issues such as the heating bill, calls to introduce a universal speed limit and restricting short-haul flights, even as it marks the second anniversary of deadly summer floods that experts say will become more frequent as the planet warms.

    Scholz said those measures were “small fry” compared with other steps his government has taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Europe’s biggest economy, from ramping up wind and solar power to signing deals for hydrogen imports to fuel energy-intensive industries.

    The 65-year-old, who took office in late 2021, also made clear that he expects to hold the reins in Berlin for some time.

    “I’m at the beginning of my work as chancellor,” he said.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Even in states that have them, few US adults support full abortion bans, AP-NORC poll finds

    Even in states that have them, few US adults support full abortion bans, AP-NORC poll finds

    [ad_1]

    The majority of U.S. adults, including those living in states with the deepest limits on abortion, want it to be legal at least through the initial stages of pregnancy, a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds.

    The poll was conducted in late June, one year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, undoing a nationwide right to abortion that had been in place for nearly 50 years.

    While the laws have changed over the past year, the poll found that opinions on abortion remain much as they were a year ago: complex, with most people believing abortion should be allowed in some circumstances and not in others. Overall, about two-thirds of Americans say abortion should generally be legal, but only about a quarter say it should always be legal and only about 1 in 10 say it should always be illegal.

    By 24 weeks of pregnancy, most Americans think their state should generally not allow abortions.

    That’s true for 34-year-old Jaleesha Thomas of Chicago. “I’d rather the person abort the baby than harm the baby or throw the baby out or anything,” she said in an interview. But she said that around 20 weeks into pregnancy, she thinks abortion should not usually be an option. “When they’re fully developed and the mother doesn’t have any illnesses or anything that would cause the baby or her to pass away, it’s like you’re killing another human.”

    Thomas’s state allows abortion until the fetus would be viable, generally considered to be around 24 weeks, and has become a destination for people from neighboring Kentucky, Missouri, Wisconsin and other places with travel bans for abortions.

    The poll finds that 1 in 10 Americans say they know someone who has either been unable to get an abortion or who has had to travel to get one in the last year, since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade – and that this is especially common among young people, people of color and those living in states where abortion is banned at all stages of pregnancy.

    Nearly half the states now allow abortion until between 20 and 27 weeks, but bar it later than that in most cases. Before the fall of Roe, almost every state fell in that range. Now, abortion is banned — with varying exceptions — at all stages of pregnancy in 14 states, including much of the South.

    The poll found that 73% of all U.S. adults, including 58% of those in states with the deepest bans, believe abortion should be allowed at six weeks of pregnancy. Just one state currently has a ban in effect that kicks in around then. That’s Georgia, where abortion is banned once cardiac activity can be detected — around six weeks and before women often know they’re pregnant. Ohio and South Carolina have similar bans that are not being enforced because of court action, and Florida has one that hasn’t taken effect.

    About half of Americans say abortions should be permitted at the 15-week mark, though 55% of those living in the most restrictive states say abortion should be banned by that point.

    And by 24 weeks, about two-thirds of Americans, including those who live in states with the fewest restrictions, say it should be barred.

    While most GOP-controlled state governments have been pushing for more abortion restrictions, the poll finds that there’s not always support for doing so. Nationally, about 4 in 10 people said it was too difficult to access abortion in their community, compared with about a quarter who think it’s too easy.

    Robert Green, an 89-year-old politically independent rancher in Wyoming, where a judge has put on hold a ban on abortion throughout pregnancy, said he’s supported abortion rights since before the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. “There’s a lot of reasons,” he said. “Not the least of which: The people who don’t want kids and go on and have them — the kids usually suffer for it.”

    People in states with the deepest bans were slightly more likely to say abortion was too difficult to access compared with those living in the least restrictive states. Overall, about half of Democrats say it’s too difficult, compared with 22% of Republicans.

    And women were more likely to say access was too challenging in their area. For both Republicans and Democrats, there was not much of a gender divide on the topic: About half of both Democratic men and women found it too challenging, and around 2 in 10 GOP men and women did. But nearly half of independent women thought so, compared with about one-third of independent men.

    ___

    The poll of 1,220 adults was conducted June 22-26 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • GOP confidence in 2024 vote count low after years of false election claims, AP-NORC poll shows

    GOP confidence in 2024 vote count low after years of false election claims, AP-NORC poll shows

    [ad_1]

    Few Republicans have high confidence that votes will be tallied accurately in next year’s presidential contest, suggesting years of sustained attacks against elections by former President Donald Trump and his allies have taken a toll, according to a new poll.

    The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds that only 22% of Republicans have high confidence that votes in the upcoming presidential election will be counted accurately compared to 71% of Democrats, underscoring a partisan divide fueled by a relentless campaign of lies related to the 2020 presidential election. Even as he runs for the White House a third time, Trump continues to promote the false claim that the election was stolen.

    Overall, the survey finds that fewer than half of Americans – 44% — have “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of confidence that the votes in the next presidential election will be counted accurately.

    While Democrats’ confidence in elections has risen in recent years, the opposite is true for Republicans. Ahead of the 2016 election, 32% of Republicans were highly confident votes would be counted accurately — a figure that jumped to 54% two years later after Trump won the presidency.

    That confidence level dropped to 28% a month before the 2020 election, as Trump signaled to voters that the voting would be rigged, and now sits at 22% less than 16 months before the next presidential election.

    “I just didn’t like the way the last election went,” said Lynn Jackson, a registered nurse from El Sobrante, California, who is a registered Republican. “I have questions about it. I can’t actually say it was stolen — only God knows that.”

    Trump’s claims were rejected by dozens of judges, including several he appointed. His own attorney general and an exhaustive review by The Associated Press found no evidence of widespread fraud that could have changed the results. Multiple reviews, audits and recounts in the battleground states where Trump disputed his loss confirmed Democrat Joe Biden’s victory, including several overseen by Republican lawmakers.

    Even so, Trump’s attempts to explain his loss led to a wave of new laws in GOP-dominated states that added new voting restrictions, primarily by restricting mail voting and limiting or banning ballot drop boxes. Across the country, conspiracy theories related to voting machines have prompted many Republican-controlled local governments to explore banning machines from tallying votes in favor of hand counts.

    The AP-NORC poll suggests that the persistent messaging has sunk in among a wide swath of the American public.

    The survey found that independents — a group that has consistently had low confidence in elections — were also largely skeptical about the integrity of the 2024 elections. Just 24% have the highest levels of confidence that the votes will be counted accurately.

    Chris Ruff, a 46-year-old unaffiliated voter from Sanford, North Carolina, said he lost faith in elections years ago, believing they are rigged to favor certain candidates. He also sees no difference between the two major parties.

    “I don’t vote at all,” he said. “I think it only adds credibility to the system if you participate.”

    The conspiracy theories about voting machines, promoted through forums held around the country, also have taken a toll on confidence among Republicans even though there is no evidence to support them.

    About four in 10 U.S. adults are highly confident that scanning paper ballots into a machine provides accurate counts. Democrats are about twice as confident in the process as Republicans —63% compared to 29%. That marks a notable shift from a 2018 AP-NORC poll that found just 40% of Democrats were confident compared to 53% of Republicans.

    Gillian Nevers, a 79-year-old retiree from Madison, Wisconsin, has worked as a poll worker and said she has confidence — based on her experiences — in the people who oversee elections.

    “I have never seen any shenanigans,” said Nevers, who votes Democratic. “The claims are unfounded and ridiculous. Because they are being so widely projected, I think they have a lot of people worried who I don’t think should be.”

    The conspiracy theories have led to death threats against election officials and an exodus of experienced workers. The attacks against voting machines have been especially dispiriting for election officials because of the testing and audits they perform before and after elections to ensure votes are recorded accurately. All states except Alabama and Wisconsin reported using a method referred to as logic and accuracy testing to confirm that voting machines were tabulating votes correctly before the 2022 midterm elections, according to a report by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

    In most jurisdictions, any challenged result also can be checked against the paper ballots.

    James Grove, a 74-year-old retiree from Sharon, Pennsylvania, is among the minority of Republicans who are confident votes will be counted accurately next year and said he does not believe the 2020 election was stolen.

    “I think most of the elections are run pretty honestly,” said Grove, who backed Trump in 2016 and 2020. “There are Republican election watchers and Democratic ones. And do I think the 2020 election was crooked? No, I really don’t.”

    Among other poll findings:

    — Most Republicans — 62% — are opposed to allowing people to vote using mailed ballots without an excuse, compared to just 13% of Democrats. Roughly seven in 10 Democrats support no-excuse mail voting.

    — Requiring a photo ID to cast a ballot receives broad bipartisan support. Seven in 10 U.S. adults would favor a measure requiring voters to provide photo identification, including 87% of Republicans and 60% of Democrats.

    — A slim majority of Americans – 55% – support automatically registering adult citizens to vote when they get a driver’s license or other state identification.

    — Four in 10 U.S. adults say eligible voters being denied the right to vote is a major problem in U.S. elections, but about as many Americans say the same about people voting who are not eligible. The perceived significance of each issue varies by political party: 56% of Republicans call illegal voting a major problem in U.S. elections, compared to 20% of Democrats. At the same time, 53% of Democrats say eligible voters being unable to vote is a major problem, compared to 26% of Republicans.

    ___

    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.

    ___

    The poll of 1,220 adults was conducted June 22-26 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Cambodia ruling party victory a sure bet as campaigning begins for general election

    Cambodia ruling party victory a sure bet as campaigning begins for general election

    [ad_1]

    PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Campaigning for Cambodia’s general election officially began Saturday, an exercise that is more an affirmation of a nominally democratic process than a prelude to a genuine contest.

    Eighteen parties are contesting this year’s polls, for which around 9.7 million people are eligible to vote to elect 125 members of National Assembly. The campaign period ends on July 21, and July 23 is election day.

    Prime Minister Hun Sen has been in power for 38 years, and his ruling Cambodian People’s Party is virtually guaranteed a landslide victory, since the Candlelight Party, the sole other contender capable of mounting a credible challenge, was barred on a technicality from contesting the polls by the National Election Committee.

    The situation mirrors what happened before the last general election in 2018, when the popular Cambodian National Rescue Party, which had performed strongly in local elections, was dissolved months before the polls by a controversial court ruling that alleged it had plotted the illegal overthrow of the government. The party’s disbanding enabled Hun Sen’s party to win all the seats in the National Assembly.

    The crackdown also drove most of the party’s top leadership, among the country’s most popular and capable politicians, into exile. Most remain in self-imposed exile to avoid being jailed on various charges they say are trumped up and unfair.

    Saturday’s highest-profile campaign activities were held by Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party, which has huge advantages in manpower, money and organization. Its supporters, garbed in blue and white party garb, marched en masse in the capital, Phnom Penh, and other cities, while other parties held activities on a much smaller scale.

    Before marching through the capital, Hun Sen, fellow leaders of his party and several thousand supporters, gathered at a convention center, where the prime minister gave a speech largely touting his administration’s achievements and stating his party’s platform.

    ”’ am confident that my compatriots who have already seen the progress of Cambodia in full peace, independence, unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity will now continue to vote for the Cambodian People’s Party and me to continue to lead the country for the seventh legislature,” Hun Sen said, according to the English translation of his speech.

    Hun Sen has said he expects to relinquish his prime minister’s job after the election and wants his eldest son, army commander Hun Manet, to succeed him.

    Keeping the Candlelight Party off the ballot was just part of efforts to keep Hun Sen’s opponents in check.

    The National Assembly last week unanimously approved changes to the country’s election law that will ban anyone who fails to vote from running as a candidate in future elections, a move that Hun Sen declared would serve to compel candidates for public office to prove their civic responsibility.

    But critics charged it was aimed at handicapping opposition to the ruling party, by making it hard to lead an election boycott. Other amendments in the law also serve to discourage election protests.

    ___

    Grant Peck reported from Bangkok.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Americans mark Juneteenth with parties, events, quiet reflection on end of slavery after Civil War

    Americans mark Juneteenth with parties, events, quiet reflection on end of slavery after Civil War

    [ad_1]

    Detroit — Americans across the country this weekend celebrated Juneteenth, marking the relatively new national holiday with cookouts, parades and other gatherings as they commemorated the end of slavery after the Civil War.

    While many have treated the long holiday weekend as a reason for a party, others urged quiet reflection on America’s often violent and oppressive treatment of its Black citizens. And still others have remarked at the strangeness of celebrating a federal holiday marking the end of slavery in the nation while many Americans are trying to stop that history from being taught in public schools.

    “Is #Juneteenth the only federal holiday that some states have banned the teaching of its history and significance?” Author Michelle Duster asked on Twitter this weekend, referring to measures in Florida, Oklahoma and Alabama prohibiting an Advancement Placement African American studies course or the teaching of certain concepts of race and racism.

    Monday’s federal holiday commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

    On Juneteenth weekend, a Roman Catholic church in Detroit devoted its service to urging parishioners to take a deeper look at the lessons from the holiday.

    “In order to have justice we must work for peace. And in order to have peace we must work for justice,” John Thorne, executive director of the Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance, said to the congregation at Gesu Catholic Church in Detroit.

    Standing before paintings of a Black Jesus and Mary, Thorne said Juneteenth is a day of celebration, but it also “has to be much more.”

    It was important to speak about Juneteenth during Sunday Mass, the Rev. Lorn Snow told a reporter as the service was ending.

    “The struggle’s still not over with. There’s a lot of work to be done,” he said.

    Most Black Americans agree, according to a recent poll. A full 70% of Black adults queried in a AP-NORC poll said “a lot” needs to be done to achieve equal treatment for African Americans in policing. And Black Americans suffer from significantly worse health outcomes than their white peers across a variety of measures, including rates of maternal mortality, asthma, high blood pressure and Alzheimer’s disease.

    Although end-of-slavery celebrations are new in many parts of the country, in Memphis, where the slave trade once thrived, the Juneteenth holiday has been celebrated since long before it became a designated federal holiday in 2021. The Tennessee Legislature passed a bill earlier this year making it a state holiday, as well.

    Festivities there include a multi-day festival including food, music, arts and crafts, and cultural exhibitions in a tree-lined park in the city’s medical district. The Memphis park once held an equestrian statue and the grave of slave trader and Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest. The statue and the body were moved in recent years.

    Memphis is home to the National Civil Rights Museum located at the site of the old Lorraine Motel, the former Black-owned hotel where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in 1968. The museum is offering free admission on Monday to mark the holiday. At the museum, visitors can hear recorded speeches from civil rights leaders including King, Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers and others.

    Ryan Jones, the museum’s associate curator, said Juneteenth should be celebrated in the U.S. with the same emphasis that July 4 receives as Independence Day.

    “It is the independence of a people that were forced to endure oppression and discrimination based on the color of their skin,” Jones said.

    The Juneteenth holiday, Jones said, should also be viewed as more than a day when people attend parties and cookouts. In fact, he said, it is a time to reflect on the past.

    “It acknowledges the sacrifices of those early civil rights veterans between World War I and World War II, and of course in the modern society, the protests, the demonstrations, the non-violence, the marches,” Jones said.

    As Americans gathered to mark the holiday, it wasn’t without incident. In a Chicago suburb late Saturday night, one person was killed and 22 were injured in a shooting still being investigated Sunday by police. One witness said the party in the parking lot of a Willowbrook, Illinois, strip-mall was a Juneteenth celebration.

    The White House released a statement Sunday afternoon, saying: “The President and First Lady are thinking of those killed and injured in the shooting in Illinois last night. We have reached out to offer assistance to state and local leaders in the wake of this tragedy at a community Juneteenth celebration.”

    The holiday observance continues Monday with Vice President Kamala Harris appearing on a CNN special with musical guests including Miguel and Charlie Wilson.

    Schools and federal buildings will be closed Monday.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Mexico’s top diplomat resigns to enter primary race for 2024 presidential election

    Mexico’s top diplomat resigns to enter primary race for 2024 presidential election

    [ad_1]

    MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s top diplomat resigned his post Monday to enter the primary race for the country’s 2024 presidential election, and Mexico City’s mayor said she would resign Friday to do the same.

    Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said he resigned at noon and pledged to start a nationwide campaign tour.

    Both Ebrard and Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum belong to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena party, which will use polling to choose among four presidential contenders.

    The two other hopefuls — Sen. Ricardo Monreal and Interior Secretary Adán López, who is not related to the president — are expected to resign or ask for leaves by the Friday deadline set by the Morena party. That is meant to prevent primary candidates from using their posts to gain an unfair advantage. Each can campaign throughout the summer.

    Morena has come to dominate Mexican politics since López Obrador was elected in 2018. But the president cannot run for re-election and has promised to retire from politics after he leaves office in September 2024.

    López Obrador’s departure poses a problem for Morena, because the young party was entirely built around his personal popularity and has not become a cohesive force. Some members come from smaller left-leaning parties and some from the old ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party.

    Ebrard said Monday that he would simply continue López Obrador’s program, which the president refers to as the “fourth transformation” of Mexico. The term equates López Obrador’s term with three other historic eras — Mexico’s 1810-21 independence movement, the reform era of the 1850s and the 1910-1917 Mexican Revolution.

    “Let’s build the continuation, the next stage in the fourth transformation,” Ebrard said.

    Sheinbaum stressed that as a woman and a scientist, she would mark firsts if she became president.

    “Mexicans are very much willing to have a woman president,” she said.

    Morena decided Sunday that a series of five polls will be conducted over the summer to decide the party’s nomination for the presidential election on June 2, 2024.

    The party is desperate to avoid splits and accusations of manipulated polls that marked its past primary races. Morena itself will conduct one poll, and each of the four presidential contenders will name private polling firms to carry out four more polls. Each will have equal weight.

    The polling will be carried out nationwide between late August and early September. The winner will be announced Sept. 6. Any Mexican — not just Morena members — could be surveyed in the polls.

    There will be no debates between the primary candidates, nor will governors, mayors, Cabinet members or the president be allowed to endorse a candidate during the primary.

    Two allied parties, the Green and Labor parties, will also field one primary candidate apiece for the coalition’s nomination.

    While the party says López Obrador will not decide the nominee, the president’s preference — and any indication of it, however slight — would likely be decisive.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Boris Johnson quits as UK lawmaker after being told he will be sanctioned for misleading Parliament

    Boris Johnson quits as UK lawmaker after being told he will be sanctioned for misleading Parliament

    [ad_1]

    LONDON — Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson shocked Britain on Friday by quitting as a lawmaker after being told he will be sanctioned for misleading Parliament. He departed with a ferocious tirade at his political opponents — and at his successor, Rishi Sunak — that could blast open tensions within the governing Conservative Party.

    Johnson resigned after receiving the results of an investigation by lawmakers into misleading statements he made to Parliament about “partygate,” a series of rule-breaking government parties during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    In a lengthy resignation statement, Johnson accused opponents of trying to drive him out — and hinted that his rollercoaster political career might not be over yet.

    “It is very sad to be leaving Parliament — at least for now,” he said.

    Johnson, 58, said he had “received a letter from the Privileges Committee making it clear — much to my amazement — that they are determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of Parliament.”

    He called the committee investigating him — which has members from both government and opposition parties — a “kangaroo court.”

    “Their purpose from the beginning has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts,” Johnson said.

    The resignation will trigger a special election to replace Johnson as a lawmaker for a suburban London seat in the House of Commons.

    Johnson, whose career has seen a series of scandals and comebacks, led the Conservatives to a landslide victory in 2019 but was forced out by his own party less than three years later.

    He had been awaiting the outcome of an investigation by a House of Commons standards committee over misleading statements he made to Parliament about a slew of gatherings in government buildings in 2020 and 2021 that breached pandemic lockdown rules.

    Police eventually issued 126 fines over the late-night soirees, boozy parties and “wine time Fridays,” including one to Johnson, and the scandal helped hasten the end of his premiership.

    Johnson has acknowledged misleading Parliament when he assured lawmakers that no rules had been broken, but he said he didn’t do so deliberately.

    He told the committee he “honestly believed” the five events he attended, including a send-off for a staffer and his own surprise birthday party, were “lawful work gatherings” intended to boost morale among overworked staff members coping with a deadly pandemic.

    The committee had been expected to publish its report in the next few weeks, and Johnson could have faced suspension from the House of Commons if he was found to have lied deliberately.

    By quitting, he avoids a suspension that could have seen him ousted from his Commons seat by his constituents, leaving him free to run for Parliament again in future. His resignation statement suggested he was mulling that option. It was highly critical of Sunak, who served as Treasury chief in Johnson’s government before jumping ship with many other colleagues in July 2022 — resignations that forced Johnson out.

    Johnson took aim at Sunak, who was chosen by the Conservatives in October to steady the government after the terms of Johnson and his briefly serving successor Liz Truss, who stepped down after six weeks when her tax-slashing policies caused financial turmoil.

    Johnson claimed that “when I left office last year the government was only a handful of points behind in the polls. That gap has now massively widened.”

    Conservative poll ratings went into decline during the turbulent final months of Johnson’s term and have not recovered. Opinion polls regularly put the opposition Labour Party 20 points or more ahead. A national election must be held by the end of 2024.

    “Just a few years after winning the biggest majority in almost half a century, that majority is now clearly at risk,” Johnson said. “Our party needs urgently to recapture its sense of momentum and its belief in what this country can do.”

    Johnson resigned hours after King Charles III rewarded dozens of his loyal aides and allies with knighthoods and other honors, a political tradition for former prime ministers that drew cries of cronyism from opponents of the ousted leader.

    Johnson’s dramatic exit is the latest — but maybe not the last — chapter in a career of extremes. The rumpled, Latin-spouting populist with a mop of blond hair had held major offices, including London mayor, but also spent periods on the political sidelines before Britain’s exit from the European Union propelled him to the top.

    Johnson’s bullish boosterism helped persuade 52% of Britons to vote to leave the EU, and he was elected prime minister in 2019 on a vow to “get Brexit done.”

    He was less suited to the hard work of governing, and the pandemic — which landed Johnson in intensive care with COVID-19 — was a major challenge. Johnson’s government won plaudits for its rapid vaccine rollout, but the U.K. also had one of the highest coronavirus death tolls in Europe, and some of the longest lockdowns.

    The final straw came when details emerged of parties held in Johnson’s Downing Street office and home while the country was in lockdown. “Partygate” caused outrage and finally pushed the Conservative Party to oust its election-winning but erratic leader.

    Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the opposition Labour Party, responded to Johnson’s resignation with: “enough is enough.”

    “The British public are sick to the back teeth of this never ending Tory soap opera played out at their expense,” she said.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Polls close in Turkey’s presidential runoff election, as Erdogan seeks to extend two decades of rule.

    Polls close in Turkey’s presidential runoff election, as Erdogan seeks to extend two decades of rule.

    [ad_1]

    Polls close in Turkey’s presidential runoff election, as Erdogan seeks to extend two decades of rule.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Polls open in Turkey’s presidential runoff in which Erdogan seeks to extend 20-year rule

    Polls open in Turkey’s presidential runoff in which Erdogan seeks to extend 20-year rule

    [ad_1]

    Polls open in Turkey’s presidential runoff in which Erdogan seeks to extend 20-year rule

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Guatemala’s top court ends candidacy of leading presidential hopeful 1 month before vote

    Guatemala’s top court ends candidacy of leading presidential hopeful 1 month before vote

    [ad_1]

    Guatemala’s top court has blocked the candidacy of yet another presidential hopeful, this time ending the campaign of poll leader Carlos Pineda for alleged violations of electoral law

    GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemala’s top court blocked the candidacy of another presidential hopeful on Friday, this time ending the campaign of poll leader Carlos Pineda for alleged violations of electoral law.

    The Constitutional Court rejected Pineda’s appeal after electoral authorities had ruled him ineligible only a month before the first round of voting June 25.

    “The Constitutional Court has put an end to this country’s democracy,” Pineda told the AP in a phone interview.

    “The co-optation of the state prevailed, the rein of corruption and the dictatorship,” Pineda said. “It’s incredible. I feel like dead.”

    Pineda said his final hope rests with the people of Guatemala, that the majority would cast a null vote and that new elections would be held.

    Pineda is the third presidential candidate ruled ineligible to run. The court rejected the final appeals of candidate Roberto Arzú on Thursday, and previously had ruled against Thelma Cabrera because of a paperwork issue with her running mate.

    A fourth candidate, Edmond Mulet, also faces the possibility of exclusion, as he awaits a decision from the court regarding his candidacy. The Attorney General’s office called for his investigation for allegedly starting his campaign too early by making comments against the persecution of journalists.

    Some observers have accused Guatemala’s electoral authorities of using the judicial system to pare down the field to candidates acceptable to the establishment.

    The European Union, United States and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights had expressed concern about the exclusion of candidates.

    Pineda, a conservative populist, running a campaign that caught fire on social media, emerged as the surprise leader atop the polls earlier this month.

    Authorities said there were problems in the way his party, Prosperidad Ciudadana, selected its candidate that voided his candidacy.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Polls open in Greece’s first election since international bailout spending controls ended

    Polls open in Greece’s first election since international bailout spending controls ended

    [ad_1]

    ATHENS, Greece — Polls have opened in Greece’s parliamentary election, the first since the country’s economy ceased to be subject to strict supervision and control by international lenders who had provided bailout funds during its nearly decade-long financial crisis.

    The two main contenders in Sunday’s vote are conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, 55, a Harvard-educated former banking executive, and 48-year-old Alexis Tsipras, who heads the left-wing Syriza party and served as prime minister during some of the financial crisis’ most turbulent years.

    Although Mitsotakis has been steadily ahead in opinion polls, a newly introduced electoral system of proportional representation makes it unlikely that whoever wins the election will be able to garner enough seats in Greece’s 300-member parliament to form a government without seeking coalition partners.

    The winner of Sunday’s election will have three days to negotiate a coalition with one or more other parties. If that fails, the mandate to form a government is then given to the second party. But deep divisions between the two main parties and four smaller ones expected to enter parliament mean a coalition will be hard to come by, making a second election likely on July 2.

    The second election would be held under a new electoral law which makes it easier for a winning party to form a government by giving it a bonus of up to 50 seats in parliament, calculated on a sliding scale depending on the percentage of votes won.

    A total of 32 parties are vying for votes, although opinion polls have indicated only six have a realistic chance of meeting the 3% threshold to gain seats in parliament.

    Greece’s once-dominant socialist Pasok party is likely to be at the center of any coalition talks. Overtaken by Syriza during Greece’s 2009-2018 financial crisis, the party has been polling at around 10%. Its leader, Nikos Androulakis, 44, was at the center of a wiretapping scandal in which his phone was targeted for surveillance.

    Pasok would be vital in any coalition deal, but Androulakis’ poor relationship with Mitsotakis, who he accuses of covering up the wiretapping scandal, mean a deal with the conservatives is unlikely. His relationship with Tsipras is also poor, accusing him of trying to poach Pasok voters.

    The far-right Greeks Party, founded by a jailed former lawmaker with a history of neo-Nazi activity, was banned from participating by the Supreme Court. His former party, Golden Dawn, which rose to become Greece’s third largest during the financial crisis, was deemed to be a criminal organization.

    In the run-up to the election, Mitsotakis had enjoyed a double-digit lead in opinion polls, but saw that erode following a rail disaster on Feb. 28 that killed 57 people after an intercity passenger train was accidentally put on the same rail line as an oncoming freight train. It was later revealed that train stations were poorly staffed and safety infrastructure broken and outdated.

    The government was also battered by a surveillance scandal in which prominent Greek politicians, including Androulakis, and journalists discovered spyware on their phones. The prime minister said he had not been aware of the tapping of Androulakis’ phone, and that he wouldn’t have allowed it had he known. But the revelations deepened mistrust among the country’s political parties at a time when consensus may be badly needed.

    Tsipras has campaigned heavily on the rail disaster and wiretapping scandal.

    In power since 2019 elections, Mitsotakis has delivered unexpectedly high growth, a steep drop in unemployment and a country on the brink of returning to investment grade on the global bond market for the first time since it lost market access in 2010, at the start of its financial crisis.

    Debts to the International Monetary Fund were paid off early. European governments and the IMF pumped 280 billion euros ($300 billion) into the Greek economy in emergency loans between 2010 and 2018 to prevent the eurozone member from going bankrupt. In return, they demanded punishing cost-cutting measures and reforms that saw the country’s economy shrink by a quarter.

    A severe recession and years of emergency borrowing left Greece with a whopping national debt that reached 400 billion euros last December and hammered household incomes, which will likely need another decade to recover.

    The other three parties with realistic chances of parliamentary seats are Greece’s Communist Party, or KKE, led by Dimitris Koutsoumbas; the left-wing European Realistic Disobedience front (MeRA25), led by Tsipras’ flamboyant former finance minister; and the right-wing Elliniki Lysi, or Greek Solution, headed by Kyriakos Velopoulos.

    The KKE, a staple of Greek politics, has seen a steady core of support around 4.5%-5.5% over the past decade, while Varoufakis’ party has been polling at just over the 3% parliamentary threshold. Velopoulos’ party elected 10 lawmakers in 2019 and looks set to enter parliament again.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Polls open in Greece’s first election since international bailout spending controls ended

    Polls open in Greece’s first election since international bailout spending controls ended

    [ad_1]

    Polls open in Greece’s first election since international bailout spending controls ended

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Most say pair debt limit increase with deficit cuts, but few following debate closely: AP-NORC poll

    Most say pair debt limit increase with deficit cuts, but few following debate closely: AP-NORC poll

    [ad_1]

    WASHINGTON — About two-thirds of U.S. adults say they are highly concerned about how the national economy would be affected if the U.S. debt limit is not increased and the government defaults on its debts, according to a new poll, even as few say they have a solid understanding of the ongoing debt limit negotiations.

    The poll shows about 6 in 10 say they want any increase in the debt limit to be coupled with agreed-upon terms for reducing the federal budget deficit. At the same time, Americans are more likely to disapprove than approve of how President Joe Biden and congressional negotiators on both sides of the aisle are handling negotiations. Still, slightly more approve of Biden’s handling of the situation than of congressional Republicans.

    The new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows 27% say they approve of Biden and 26% say the same about congressional Democrats, while 22% approve of congressional Republicans. Close to half disapprove of each.

    Sixty-six year-old Robert Hutchins says he somewhat approves of how House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Republicans in Congress are handling negotiations.

    “At least he’s trying to do something,” the Republican from Milton, Delaware, said of McCarthy’s leadership over his conference. “The Democrats want to spend more money and they don’t want any limit to it.”

    Hutchins said he doesn’t have “any confidence whatsoever” in Biden and doesn’t believe in abolishing the debt ceiling, as it serves as a constant reminder of the nation’s debt load, which currently stands at $31.4 trillion.

    Otherwise, “you just think you have an unlimited credit card and you can spend whatever you want,” he said.

    Ron Ellis, 61, of Lake Charles, Louisiana, said he hasn’t been paying a lot of attention to the latest debt limit debate because he’s thinks it will be resolved in time to save the economy from harm, as the White House and Congress have done in the past. But he expressed concern about the level of U.S. borrowing, calling it “astronomical” and “out of hand.”

    “I’ve learned from the past that they always at the last minute come up with a plan,” said Ellis, a registered Democrat who is retired after owning a trucking company. “Basically, it’s just a show on their part and, you know, one side blames the other and generally they end up with a decision. Hopefully they’ll do it again.”

    Overall, about 2 in 10 U.S. adults say they are following negotiations over raising the debt limit extremely or very closely, and about 4 in 10 are following somewhat closely. Similarly, about 2 in 10 say they understand the situation very well and about 4 in 10 say they understand it somewhat well.

    Still, a clear majority — 63% — say they think the negotiations should be coupled with terms to reduce the budget deficit. Nineteen percent say the debt limit should be raised without conditions and 16% say it should not be raised at all. Overall, the adults who say they understand the debate best are especially likely to say the debt limit should be increased without conditions — 37% say so, compared with 50% who say it should be tied to terms about reducing the budget deficit.

    A default would likely spell catastrophe for the U.S. economy, with spillover throughout the globe, and would prompt a probable recession.

    Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned this week that a national default would destroy jobs and businesses, and leave millions of families who rely on federal government payments to “likely go unpaid,” including Social Security beneficiaries, veterans and military families.

    An AP-NORC poll conducted earlier this year also shows little consensus on cuts that would make a dent in the deficit: While most Americans said the government spends too much overall, majorities favored increased spending on popular and expensive programs including Medicare and Social Security.

    Similar percentages of Republicans and Democrats say they are following and understanding negotiations, and concern about the economy if the U.S. defaults is widely bipartisan. But about a third of Democrats say the national debt limit should be increased without conditions, while just 6% of Republicans say the same.

    Twenty-three percent of Republicans but just 7% of Democrats say the debt limit should not be increased under any circumstances.

    Aaron Loessberg-Zahl, a 33-year-old Democrat from San Jose, California, said the debt ceiling should be raised without conditions, and called the statutory limit on borrowing “arbitrary.”

    “Congress already controls the purse strings, they approve the annual budgets for our government,” Loessberg-Zahl said, “and I think that’s plenty of control over the spending.”

    He called the debate over whether and how to raise the debt ceiling “not productive” and said he approves of the president’s handling of negotiations.

    Loessberg-Zahl said, “My belief is that those people probably don’t understand the full ramifications of what would happen if the country were to default.”

    ___

    The poll of 1,680 adults was conducted May 11-15 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • ‘Not my king’: UK republicans want coronation to be the last

    ‘Not my king’: UK republicans want coronation to be the last

    [ad_1]

    LONDON — On his way to be crowned this week, King Charles III will travel by gilded coach through streets swathed in red, white and blue Union flags — and past a warning from history.

    At Trafalgar Square stands a large bronze statue of King Charles I, the 17th-century monarch deposed by Parliament and executed in 1649. On Saturday, more than 1,500 protesters, dressed in yellow for maximum visibility, plan to gather beside it to chant “Not my king” as the royal procession goes by.

    “We’ll try and keep the atmosphere light, but our aim is to make it impossible to ignore,” said Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchist group Republic.

    The coronation, he said, is “a celebration of a corrupt institution. And it is a celebration of one man taking a job that he has not earned.”

    Republican activists have long struggled to build momentum to dislodge Britain’s 1,000-year-old monarchy. But they see the coronation as a moment of opportunity.

    Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September after 70 years on the throne, was widely respected because of her longevity and sense of duty. Charles is another matter, a 74-year-old whose family feuds and firm opinions on everything from architecture to the environment have been headline fodder for decades.

    Opinion polls suggest opposition and apathy to the monarchy are both growing. In a recent study by the National Center for Social Research, just 29% of respondents thought the monarchy was “very important” – the lowest level in the center’s 40 years of research on the subject. Opposition was highest among the young.

    “I think it’s definitely shifting,” said Smith, whose group wants to replace the monarch with an elected head of state. “People are quite happy to criticize Charles in a way they weren’t willing to necessarily in public about the queen.”

    Millions in Britain will watch broadcasts when Charles is crowned in Westminster Abbey. Tens of thousands will line the streets, and neighborhoods across the country will hold parties.

    But millions more will ignore the ceremonies. Some will attend alternative events, including a gig in Glasgow by tribute band the Scottish Sex Pistols, recapturing the spirit of punks who sang “God save the queen, the fascist regime” during the late queen’s 1977 silver jubilee.

    London’s Newington Green Meeting House, a gathering place for religious dissenters and radicals for 300 years, is holding an “alternative community party,” complete with food, drink and “radical and republican” music.

    General manager Nick Toner said that the event is for people who “don’t want to sit through hours of footage of ceremonies, carriages and endless Union Jacks, perhaps because they think it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money or even just plain old boring.”

    While the BBC, Britain’s publicly owned national broadcaster, will offer wall-to-wall coronation coverage on Saturday, rival Channel 4 offers an alternative schedule including a musical about disgraced royal Prince Andrew, soapy drama “The Windsors” and documentary “Farewell to the Monarchy.”

    Some argue that it’s grotesque to spend millions on pomp and pageantry amid a cost-of-living crisis that has brought 10% inflation, driven thousands to food banks and triggered months of strikes by nurses, teachers and other workers seeking higher pay.

    Even Charles’ slimmed-down ceremony — with about 2,000 guests instead of the 8,000 who attended the queen’s coronation in 1953 — carries a big price tag for British taxpayers. The full cost won’t be known until afterward, but Elizabeth’s 1953 coronation cost 912,000 pounds, the equivalent of 20.5 million pounds ($26 million) today.

    Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, who helps oversee coronation arrangements, has argued that “people would not want a dour scrimping and scraping” at such a “marvelous moment in our history.” Coronation supporters argue that the celebrations will be a boost for brand Britain, attracting tourists and stimulating sales.

    Not everyone is convinced.

    “I disagree with it,” said Philippa Higgins, a 24-year-old receptionist in London. “I just think it seems a bit silly when we’ve got so many people struggling, to have something so extravagant right now. But some people argue tradition, I suppose.”

    Opposition to the lavish coronation is especially strong in Scotland and Wales, where some pro-independence nationalists see the monarchy as part of the U.K. state they want to leave.

    Some Scottish nationalists object to the Stone of Destiny — a 275-pound (125-kilogram) chunk of sandstone linked to both Scottish and English monarchs — being sent from Edinburgh to London to take its traditional place under the coronation chair. The iconic rock, a symbol of Scottish nationhood seized by an English king in the 13th century and not returned until 1996, had to be moved to Westminster Abbey in secrecy and amid tight security.

    Charles is keen to be seen as a modern monarch, and Buckingham Palace has adapted some of the coronation’s ancient traditions for the 21st century. His coronation will be the first to feature contributions from Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh leaders, and the first to include female bishops.

    Still, a suggestion from the Church of England that people watching the coronation on TV might want to swear allegiance to the king from their sofas has struck a sour note with some.

    Charles is monarch of 14 former British colonies as well as the U.K., and the king has tentatively addressed the legacy of empire. He supports research into the monarchy’s links to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and last year expressed “personal sorrow” at the suffering caused by slavery — though he stopped short of saying sorry.

    The number of Charles’ realms is likely to dwindle during his reign. Barbados became a republic in 2021 and Jamaica plans to do the same. New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said this week he wants his country to jettison the crown, though he added that it’s not an “urgent priority.”

    Craig Prescott, a constitutional law expert at Bangor University in Wales, says that in the U.K., the monarchy is probably safe for now because of Britain’s tendency to “muddle through” and gradually adapt its politics and constitution to changing times.

    “Clearly, if you were going to start from scratch, you would probably never choose one family and say, ‘They’re going to provide a head of state forever,’” he said. But the arrangement mostly works, and abolishing the crown “isn’t on the horizon of any political party.”

    Still, he sees danger ahead if a young generation that has endured years of austerity, pandemic and economic pinch continues to struggle.

    “If the monarchy stands for the status quo, the status quo isn’t necessarily great, in generational terms, for a certain section,” Prescott said. “If that continues, then that may be a problem for a lot of national institutions in 20 or 30 years’ time.”

    ___

    Associated Press videojournalist Kwiyeon Ha contributed to this story.

    ___

    ___

    Follow AP’s coverage of King Charles III and the coronation at https://apnews.com/hub/king-charles-iii

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • ‘Not my king’: UK republicans want coronation to be the last

    ‘Not my king’: UK republicans want coronation to be the last

    [ad_1]

    LONDON — On his way to be crowned this week, King Charles III will travel by gilded coach through streets swathed in red, white and blue Union flags — and past a warning from history.

    At Trafalgar Square stands a large bronze statue of King Charles I, the 17th-century monarch deposed by Parliament and executed in 1649. On Saturday, more than 1,500 protesters, dressed in yellow for maximum visibility, plan to gather beside it to chant “Not my king” as the royal procession goes by.

    “We’ll try and keep the atmosphere light, but our aim is to make it impossible to ignore,” said Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchist group Republic.

    The coronation, he said, is “a celebration of a corrupt institution. And it is a celebration of one man taking a job that he has not earned.”

    Republican activists have long struggled to build momentum to dislodge Britain’s 1,000-year-old monarchy. But they see the coronation as a moment of opportunity.

    Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September after 70 years on the throne, was widely respected because of her longevity and sense of duty. Charles is another matter, a 74-year-old whose family feuds and firm opinions on everything from architecture to the environment have been headline fodder for decades.

    Opinion polls suggest opposition and apathy to the monarchy are both growing. In a recent study by the National Center for Social Research, just 29% of respondents thought the monarchy was “very important” – the lowest level in the center’s 40 years of research on the subject. Opposition was highest among the young.

    “I think it’s definitely shifting,” said Smith, whose group wants to replace the monarch with an elected head of state. “People are quite happy to criticize Charles in a way they weren’t willing to necessarily in public about the queen.”

    Millions in Britain will watch broadcasts when Charles is crowned in Westminster Abbey. Tens of thousands will line the streets, and neighborhoods across the country will hold parties.

    But millions more will ignore the ceremonies. Some will attend alternative events, including a gig in Glasgow by tribute band the Scottish Sex Pistols, recapturing the spirit of punks who sang “God save the queen, the fascist regime” during the late queen’s 1977 silver jubilee.

    London’s Newington Green Meeting House, a gathering place for religious dissenters and radicals for 300 years, is holding an “alternative community party,” complete with food, drink and “radical and republican” music.

    General manager Nick Toner said that the event is for people who “don’t want to sit through hours of footage of ceremonies, carriages and endless Union Jacks, perhaps because they think it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money or even just plain old boring.”

    While the BBC, Britain’s publicly owned national broadcaster, will offer wall-to-wall coronation coverage on Saturday, rival Channel 4 offers an alternative schedule including a musical about disgraced royal Prince Andrew, soapy drama “The Windsors” and documentary “Farewell to the Monarchy.”

    Some argue that it’s grotesque to spend millions on pomp and pageantry amid a cost-of-living crisis that has brought 10% inflation, driven thousands to food banks and triggered months of strikes by nurses, teachers and other workers seeking higher pay.

    Even Charles’ slimmed-down ceremony — with about 2,000 guests instead of the 8,000 who attended the queen’s coronation in 1953 — carries a big price tag for British taxpayers. The full cost won’t be known until afterward, but Elizabeth’s 1953 coronation cost 912,000 pounds, the equivalent of 20.5 million pounds ($26 million) today.

    Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, who helps oversee coronation arrangements, has argued that “people would not want a dour scrimping and scraping” at such a “marvelous moment in our history.” Coronation supporters argue that the celebrations will be a boost for brand Britain, attracting tourists and stimulating sales.

    Not everyone is convinced.

    “I disagree with it,” said Philippa Higgins, a 24-year-old receptionist in London. “I just think it seems a bit silly when we’ve got so many people struggling, to have something so extravagant right now. But some people argue tradition, I suppose.”

    Opposition to the lavish coronation is especially strong in Scotland and Wales, where some pro-independence nationalists see the monarchy as part of the U.K. state they want to leave.

    Some Scottish nationalists object to the Stone of Destiny — a 275-pound (125-kilogram) chunk of sandstone linked to both Scottish and English monarchs — being sent from Edinburgh to London to take its traditional place under the coronation chair. The iconic rock, a symbol of Scottish nationhood seized by an English king in the 13th century and not returned until 1996, had to be moved to Westminster Abbey in secrecy and amid tight security.

    Charles is keen to be seen as a modern monarch, and Buckingham Palace has adapted some of the coronation’s ancient traditions for the 21st century. His coronation will be the first to feature contributions from Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh leaders, and the first to include female bishops.

    Still, a suggestion from the Church of England that people watching the coronation on TV might want to swear allegiance to the king from their sofas has struck a sour note with some.

    Charles is monarch of 14 former British colonies as well as the U.K., and the king has tentatively addressed the legacy of empire. He supports research into the monarchy’s links to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and last year expressed “personal sorrow” at the suffering caused by slavery — though he stopped short of saying sorry.

    The number of Charles’ realms is likely to dwindle during his reign. Barbados became a republic in 2021 and Jamaica plans to do the same. New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said this week he wants his country to jettison the crown, though he added that it’s not an “urgent priority.”

    Craig Prescott, a constitutional law expert at Bangor University in Wales, says that in the U.K., the monarchy is probably safe for now because of Britain’s tendency to “muddle through” and gradually adapt its politics and constitution to changing times.

    “Clearly, if you were going to start from scratch, you would probably never choose one family and say, ‘They’re going to provide a head of state forever,’” he said. But the arrangement mostly works, and abolishing the crown “isn’t on the horizon of any political party.”

    Still, he sees danger ahead if a young generation that has endured years of austerity, pandemic and economic pinch continues to struggle.

    “If the monarchy stands for the status quo, the status quo isn’t necessarily great, in generational terms, for a certain section,” Prescott said. “If that continues, then that may be a problem for a lot of national institutions in 20 or 30 years’ time.”

    ___

    Associated Press videojournalist Kwiyeon Ha contributed to this story.

    ___

    ___

    Follow AP’s coverage of King Charles III and the coronation at https://apnews.com/hub/king-charles-iii

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • DeSantis’ overseas trip overshadowed by fight with Disney

    DeSantis’ overseas trip overshadowed by fight with Disney

    [ad_1]

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hoped his first international trade mission would generate lucrative business deals and boost his foreign policy resume ahead of an expected presidential run. Instead, he faced questions about losing ground to former President Donald Trump and being taken to court by Walt Disney World.

    The trip reflected the intensifying pressure confronting DeSantis as some of his allies grow increasingly anxious about his White House prospects. Within a few short years, he rose from relatively a relatively obscure congressman to Trump’s leading Republican rival by embracing the former president’s cultural grievances without the constant tumult.

    But it turns out DeSantis isn’t immune from drama. Facing questions this week about his standing within the GOP and his fight with Disney, he’s sometimes appeared agitated, reinforcing concerns within corners of his own party about his readiness for the rigor of presidential politics. Some in the GOP said that rather than burnish his image as a fighter, the confrontation with Disney over an anti-LGBTQ law and the theme part’s right to self-governor is becoming a distraction.

    “My goal would be for this spat to end. They’ve been our longtime partner,” said Republican state Sen. Joe Gruters, the immediate past chair of the state GOP and a Trump supporter. “We should be focused in a positive way on helping our job creators.”

    Speaking in Israel, DeSantis expressed confidence in his actions and is showing no sign of letting the Disney issue go.

    “I don’t think the suit has merit, I think it’s political,” said DeSantis, whose political team has used the Disney fight to raise money. “The days of putting one company on a pedestal with no accountability are over in the state of Florida.”

    The fight has been going on for more than a year. It began when Disney spoke out against legislation that would prevent discussion of sexual preference and gender identity in grades K-3. DeSantis responded by accusing Disney of being “woke” and calling lawmakers to Tallahassee to punish Disney by stripping it of a decades-old right to make development and expansion decisions on its own.

    “There’s a new sheriff in town,” DeSantis said last year when he announced plans to get back at Disney. And in his new book, he boasted about outsmarting the company.

    But some are questioning who is outsmarting who as Disney waited until the governor was out of the country before suing him, claiming that he’s retaliating against the state’s largest private employer for simply speaking an opinion.

    Democratic state Sen. Linda Stewart, whose district is near Disney, said she understands that DeSantis made big headlines when he first stood up to Disney, and that it rallied his core supporters. But the longer the feud drags on, the more it could backfire.

    “I’m betting on Disney. They probably have more money and lawyers than the state of Florida,” Stewart said. “As he progresses on, people are getting mad at him. The citizens of Florida do not like him going after family-friendly, economic development for the community. People don’t want government involved in business.”

    Stewart says that DeSantis’s anti-Disney comments are getting more petty. The governor this month pointed out that the Disney district the state took over controls a lot of undeveloped land. He told reporters that the land could go to a prison, a competing theme park or some other project.

    “Really? A prison? A nuclear plant? A new theme park? I mean, what kind of rationale is he putting out there?” Stewart said. “It doesn’t even make any sense.”

    DeSantis is eyeing a presidential campaign launch once the state legislature wraps up its session next month. As that moment nears, public familiarity with the governor is improving. Just 24% of U.S. adults say they don’t know enough to rate him in the April AP-NORC poll, compared with 30% in October and 42% in July 2021.

    Still, that increased familiarity has translated almost entirely to increased negative views toward DeSantis: 45% have an unfavorable view of him, up slightly from 40% in October and 30% in July 2021.

    Overall favorable ratings for DeSantis have largely remained the same: 31% say that have an unfavorable opinion of him in the new poll. Unfavorable ratings, however, are concentrated among Democrats.

    Among Republicans, 63% now say they have a favorable view of DeSantis, a tick up from 57% in October. The shift is concentrated among moderate and liberal Republicans, who have grown more familiar with him.

    With that shift, favorable ratings of DeSantis (63%) and Trump (68%) are largely similar among Republicans. Trump’s unfavorable ratings are slightly higher than DeSantis’ (30% vs 20%), while more say they are unfamiliar with DeSantis than Trump. Overall, about half of Republicans say they have a favorable view of both men.

    There’s an open question of whether the continuation of the Disney fight will dent DeSantis’ political standing. Now that it’s in court, the lawsuit will keep popping up in headlines if DeSantis eventually enters the presidential race.

    DeSantis’ own U.S. senator and predecessor as governor, Republican Rick Scott, told Fox Business that he agrees with DeSantis on the law Disney spoke out against, but he said he hopes the feud will die down.

    “What I hope is that cooler heads are going to prevail here,” Scott said Wednesday. “We’ve got to figure out how to solve this problem, how to make sure Disney continues to grow in our state, how Disney continues to invest and add more jobs.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • DeSantis’ overseas trip overshadowed by fight with Disney

    DeSantis’ overseas trip overshadowed by fight with Disney

    [ad_1]

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hoped his first international trade mission would generate lucrative business deals and boost his foreign policy resume ahead of an expected presidential run. Instead, he faced questions about losing ground to former President Donald Trump and being taken to court by Walt Disney World.

    The trip reflected the intensifying pressure confronting DeSantis as some of his allies grow increasingly anxious about his White House prospects. Within a few short years, he rose from relatively a relatively obscure congressman to Trump’s leading Republican rival by embracing the former president’s cultural grievances without the constant tumult.

    But it turns out DeSantis isn’t immune from drama. Facing questions this week about his standing within the GOP and his fight with Disney, he’s sometimes appeared agitated, reinforcing concerns within corners of his own party about his readiness for the rigor of presidential politics. Some in the GOP said that rather than burnish his image as a fighter, the confrontation with Disney over an anti-LGBTQ law and the theme part’s right to self-governor is becoming a distraction.

    “My goal would be for this spat to end. They’ve been our longtime partner,” said Republican state Sen. Joe Gruters, the immediate past chair of the state GOP and a Trump supporter. “We should be focused in a positive way on helping our job creators.”

    Speaking in Israel, DeSantis expressed confidence in his actions and is showing no sign of letting the Disney issue go.

    “I don’t think the suit has merit, I think it’s political,” said DeSantis, whose political team has used the Disney fight to raise money. “The days of putting one company on a pedestal with no accountability are over in the state of Florida.”

    The fight has been going on for more than a year. It began when Disney spoke out against legislation that would prevent discussion of sexual preference and gender identity in grades K-3. DeSantis responded by accusing Disney of being “woke” and calling lawmakers to Tallahassee to punish Disney by stripping it of a decades-old right to make development and expansion decisions on its own.

    “There’s a new sheriff in town,” DeSantis said last year when he announced plans to get back at Disney. And in his new book, he boasted about outsmarting the company.

    But some are questioning who is outsmarting who as Disney waited until the governor was out of the country before suing him, claiming that he’s retaliating against the state’s largest private employer for simply speaking an opinion.

    Democratic state Sen. Linda Stewart, whose district is near Disney, said she understands that DeSantis made big headlines when he first stood up to Disney, and that it rallied his core supporters. But the longer the feud drags on, the more it could backfire.

    “I’m betting on Disney. They probably have more money and lawyers than the state of Florida,” Stewart said. “As he progresses on, people are getting mad at him. The citizens of Florida do not like him going after family-friendly, economic development for the community. People don’t want government involved in business.”

    Stewart says that DeSantis’s anti-Disney comments are getting more petty. The governor this month pointed out that the Disney district the state took over controls a lot of undeveloped land. He told reporters that the land could go to a prison, a competing theme park or some other project.

    “Really? A prison? A nuclear plant? A new theme park? I mean, what kind of rationale is he putting out there?” Stewart said. “It doesn’t even make any sense.”

    DeSantis is eyeing a presidential campaign launch once the state legislature wraps up its session next month. As that moment nears, public familiarity with the governor is improving. Just 24% of U.S. adults say they don’t know enough to rate him in the April AP-NORC poll, compared with 30% in October and 42% in July 2021.

    Still, that increased familiarity has translated almost entirely to increased negative views toward DeSantis: 45% have an unfavorable view of him, up slightly from 40% in October and 30% in July 2021.

    Overall favorable ratings for DeSantis have largely remained the same: 31% say that have an unfavorable opinion of him in the new poll. Unfavorable ratings, however, are concentrated among Democrats.

    Among Republicans, 63% now say they have a favorable view of DeSantis, a tick up from 57% in October. The shift is concentrated among moderate and liberal Republicans, who have grown more familiar with him.

    With that shift, favorable ratings of DeSantis (63%) and Trump (68%) are largely similar among Republicans. Trump’s unfavorable ratings are slightly higher than DeSantis’ (30% vs 20%), while more say they are unfamiliar with DeSantis than Trump. Overall, about half of Republicans say they have a favorable view of both men.

    There’s an open question of whether the continuation of the Disney fight will dent DeSantis’ political standing. Now that it’s in court, the lawsuit will keep popping up in headlines if DeSantis eventually enters the presidential race.

    DeSantis’ own U.S. senator and predecessor as governor, Republican Rick Scott, told Fox Business that he agrees with DeSantis on the law Disney spoke out against, but he said he hopes the feud will die down.

    “What I hope is that cooler heads are going to prevail here,” Scott said Wednesday. “We’ve got to figure out how to solve this problem, how to make sure Disney continues to grow in our state, how Disney continues to invest and add more jobs.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Extreme weather is nearly universal experience: AP-NORC poll

    Extreme weather is nearly universal experience: AP-NORC poll

    [ad_1]

    WASHINGTON (AP) — An overwhelming majority of people in the United States say they have recently experienced an extreme weather event, a new poll shows, and most of them attribute that to climate change.

    But even as many across the country mark Earth Day on Saturday, the poll shows relatively few say they feel motivated when they talk about the issue.

    The findings from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll echo growing evidence that many individuals question their own role in combating climate change. Still, the poll suggests people are paying attention.

    About half of U.S. adults say they have grown more concerned about the changing climate in the past year, and a growing number say they are talking about it.

    Adriana Moreno said she feels like she’s been talking about climate change for years, but it’s only recently that the 22-year-old high school teacher has noticed her older family members bringing up the issue more and more – “almost every time I see them,” said Moreno, a Democrat in New York.

    Her family on the East Coast talks about how the seasons have changed while her family in El Salvador talks about how poorly some crops on their farm are faring. After years of hearing about Moreno’s own interest in the issue, her parents have themselves become more interested.

    It’s not that they didn’t believe in climate change before, Moreno said, but it was “out of sight, out of mind.”

    Overall, about 8 in 10 U.S. adults say that in the past five years they have personally felt the effects of extreme weather, such as extreme heat or drought, according to the poll. Most of them – 54% of the public overall – say what they experienced was at least partly a result of climate change. They’re not wrong, said the head of the federal agency overseeing weather and climate issues.

    “It is a reality that regardless of where you are in the country, where you call home, you’ve likely experienced a high impact weather event firsthand,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Rick Spinrad said at a meteorological conference this year, noting that the United States has the most weather disasters that cost $1 billion of any nation in the world.

    NOAA uses weather disasters that cost $1 billion as a measure of climate change and how it affects people. Last year there were 18 of those events, costing more than $165 billion in total and killing 474 people. That included Hurricane Ian and an ongoing drought in the West.

    These types of weather events hit the nation on average once every 82 days in the 1980s, but are now smacking the country at a rate of slightly more than once every two weeks, Spinrad said.

    “With a changing climate, buckle up,” Spinrad warned. “More extreme events are expected.”

    The poll shows about three-quarters of U.S. adults say recent extreme weather events have had at least some influence on their beliefs about climate change.

    After 2 1/2 years living in Agoura Hills, California, Rick Hoeft has noticed extreme weather events that make him concerned about climate change now more than ever before. He hadn’t been face to face with the same weather whiplash when he lived for decades in Hawaii and Michigan, where he’s moving back to this month.

    “Hearing about the things like the fires and seeing the hills around here being brown and not getting any rain for three, four, five months in a row … it’s not something I’d ever thought of anywhere else because I’ve never been in such extreme drought,” the 65-year-old Republican retiree said. Then, “when we finally do get rain, it’s extreme.”

    He says his girlfriend, who had lived in California for 45 years, tells him “this isn’t normal.”

    Extreme downpours, like the series of winter storms that flooded California, and large droughts are happening more frequently and with more intensity because of climate change, studies show. Tornadoes are moving further east and the supercells that spawn them are expected to get more frequent and move even further east as the world warms. Wildfires have been devastating for years, worsened by warming.

    Half of U.S. adults say they have spoken with friends and family about climate change in the past year, compared with about 4 in 10 who said the same last June.

    Still, many say they rarely or never talk about the issue.

    John Laubacker, a 36-year-old truck driver from Lockport, New York, says climate is an important issue to him personally. But he doesn’t find himself talking about it much.

    Laubacker, a moderate Republican, says he finds the conversation on climate, like other issues, is dominated by those with extreme views on both sides of the aisle.

    The poll finds people don’t tend to talk about climate change with people they outright disagree with on the issue. Among those who talk with family and friends, about half say they mostly agree with those they talk to, while most of the remainder say they tend to equally agree and disagree.

    A clear majority say they have learned new information in a conversation on the subject, but only 19% of U.S. adults say their minds have been changed because of a conversation about climate change.

    The poll also finds few feel very hopeful or motivated when they talk about climate change; roughly half feel those at least somewhat. That’s true of anxiety and sadness as well.

    Anthony Thompson, a 74-year-old retiree and a Democrat, thinks climate change has accelerated, but he picks and chooses who he talks to about it in “ruby red” Jackson, Tennessee. But if it comes up when tornadoes or hailstorms tear through their area, he offers what he’s learned as “food for thought.”

    To Thompson, changes in weather have become more severe – as has his concern.

    “I’m more concerned now because I think people kind of take everything for granted and I don’t think they really care, to be quite honest,” he said. “Hopefully if we concentrate on some of this stuff we can at least slow it down.”

    ___

    AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein contributed to this report.

    ___

    The poll of 1,230 adults was conducted April 13-17 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Finns vote in tight election; young leader seeks reelection

    Finns vote in tight election; young leader seeks reelection

    [ad_1]

    HELSINKI — Polling stations opened Sunday in Finland, where three parties were expected to be in a tight race as Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Social Democrats fight to secure a second term running the government.

    Over 2,400 candidates from 22 parties were vying for the 200 seats in the Nordic country’s parliament, the Eduskunta.

    Marin, who at age 37 is one of Europe’s youngest leaders, has received praise for her Cabinet’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and for her prominent role, along with President Sauli Niinistö, in advocating for Finland’s successful application to join NATO. Her vocal support of Ukraine in the last year has increased her international visibility.

    “Of course we hope that the Social Democrats will win this election … It’s so important because we want to stay an open society. We also want to work together internationally. We want to build a better green sustainable future where people have the same opportunities in life,” Marin told the Associated Press while campaigning Saturday in central Helsinki.

    Marin remains popular at home but her party’s views on the Finnish economy, which emerged as the main campaign theme, were being challenged by two main opponents: the center-right National Coalition Party led by Petteri Orpo and the right-wing populist The Finns party, which is led by Riikka Purra.

    “The most important thing in the next government is to fix our economy, push economic growth, balance public economy. And the second very important issue is to build up NATO-Finland,” Orpo told the AP during a campaign event in Espoo, just outside the capital, on Saturday.

    Riikka Purra stressed that the The Finns would focus on shaping Finland’s migration, climate, criminal and energy policies if the populist party become a partner in the next government.

    “And we also want to tighten up our attitude towards the European Union,” Purra said during a campaign event in the municipality of Kirkkonummi, her home district located some 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Helsinki.

    Recent polls indicated each of the three parties could take about 20% of the vote. If that happens, no party would be in position to form a government alone; whichever one wins the most votes is expected to begin talks in the next few days on forming a governing coalition.

    Finland, which is expected to join NATO in the coming weeks, is a European Union member with a population of 5.5 million.

    Polls close at 1700 GMT (12 p.m. Eastern. Initial results are expected by midnight.

    [ad_2]

    Source link