'PETTY AND DIVISIVE': DEMOCRATIC GOVERNORS, MAYORS SLAM TRUMP'S DEFUNDING
THREAT
Democratic mayors and governors lashed out at President Donald Trump after
he issued a memo directing his administration to find federal funds that
could be cut from cities run by Democrats, including "anarchist
jurisdictions."
Democrats said the federal government cannot unilaterally withhold funding
from their cities and argued that the president's memo, which was released
Wednesday, was merely an attempt to distract from the more than 187,000
deaths in the U.S. from the coronavirus pandemic.
His comments followed the shooting death Saturday of Trump supporter Aaron
Danielson in Portland, Oregon, which the president blamed on the "lawless"
state of the city under Democratic Mayor Ted Wheeler.
Wheeler and the mayors of New York, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., on
Thursday, said any attempt to withdraw federal money would be
unconstitutional and defeated in court. "Trump needs to wake up to the
reality facing our cities - and our entire country - and realize he is not
above the law," the mayors said in a joint statement.
The United States is experiencing escalating clashes between right-wing and
left-wing groups as police shootings of Black people spark protests and
counter-protests in the run-up to the Nov. 3 presidential election. Portland
has become a focus of the presidential election campaign after over three
months of demonstrations for policing and social justice reforms, with
hundreds of arrests as protesters clashed with police and destroyed
property.
Anti-fascists had fought with supporters of the right-wing Patriot Prayer
group in Portland every weekend since mid-August before Saturday's shooting.
The latest flare-up in protest of police killing of a Black man occurred
after the release of on Wednesday showing the arrest in March in upstate New
York of a Black man who died by asphyxiation after police put a hood over
his head as he knelt on the ground, handcuffed and naked.
Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden accuses Trump of stoking the
violence, while the president calls Biden weak on crime. Reuters polling
shows no bounce in support for Trump, who trails Biden, as most Americans
see the coronavirus pandemic, not crime, as the top issue facing the
country.
CONDEMN BID TO KILL NAVALNY, SAYS MERKEL
Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated on Thursday that any German or European
response to the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny depends on
whether Russia helps clear up the case.
Speaking at a news conference with the Swedish Prime Minister, she said she
had nothing further to add to her statement condemning the attempted murder
of a Russian opposition figure and demanded Moscow's help. Meanwhile, the
Kremlin rejected accusations that Russia was responsible for the poisoning
of Navalny and said it saw no grounds for sanctions to be imposed against
Moscow over the case.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow rejected any suggestion that
Russia had been behind the attack on Navalny and warned other countries
against jumping to hasty conclusions.
UPROAR AS TRUMP TELLS PEOPLE TO VOTE TWICE
President Donald Trump is facing a backlash for urging voters in North
Carolina to vote by mail and then try to vote again in person to test the
mail-in ballot system in the November 3 election.
Trump was asked by a TV reporter during his trip to Wilmington, North
Carolina, if he had confidence in the vote-by-mail system. "They will vote
and then they are going to have to check their vote by going to the polls
and voting that way because if it tabulates then they won't be able to do
that," Trump told WECT.
"So, let them send it in and let them go vote. And if the system is as good
as they say it is, then they obviously won't be able to vote (at the polls).
If it isn't tabulated, they will be able to vote."
North Carolina's Attorney General, Democrat Josh Stein, said it was
outrageous for the President to suggest that people "break the law in order
to help him sow chaos in our election."
US: 2 MILLION HINDUS KEY VOTING BLOC IN SWING STATES, SAYS CONGRESSMAN
KRISHNAMOORTHI
The two million Hindus in the United States are a vital and key voting bloc
in several swing states this presidential election, Indian American
Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said as he told fellow community members
that it was their dharma to exercise their franchise.
In his virtual keynote address at the formal launch of the 'Hindu Americans
for Biden', Krishnamoorthi, who is the three-time Democratic Congressman
from Illinois, urged community members to vote for Democratic presidential
candidate Joe Biden and his Indian American running mate Kamala Harris on
November 3.
"I feel it is so important to elect Joe Biden because of a Hindu value
'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' (entire world is a family) a core tenant of Hindus -
we believe in treating everyone with dignity and respect," he said.
"It is an old saying in Washington DC, which is, if you don't have a seat at
the table, you're on the menu. And none of us on this zoom call or our
families, or communities, or Hindu Americans as a whole can afford to be on
the menu, and neither can our agenda. That's why it's so important that you
vote," he said.
"This year is the most important election of our lifetime before us. In 60
days, on November 3rd, believe it or not, the two million Hindu, Americans
in this country will be a vital and key voting bloc in several swing states.
Not only Florida, but Virginia and Pennsylvania and Michigan and Wisconsin,
and the list goes on and on. It is our duty, indeed it is our dharma to
vote," Krishnamoorthi said.
"Voting is our Dharma, and it's at the heart of our society," said Amit
Jani, Biden Campaign National AAPI director.
XI PRAISES CHINA'S SPIRIT OF RESISTANCE IN MARKING END OF PACIFIC WAR
President Xi Jinping on Thursday praised China's spirit of resistance in
commemorating the 75th anniversary of the end of Second World War in the
Pacific, saying any attempt to alter the nation's course under Communist
Party rule would be resisted by all of its 1.4 billion citizens.
Mr. Xi led government officials in a minute of silence and presentation of
floral wreaths at a memorial hall dedicated to soldiers and civilians, who
participated in the war, in which China endured a brutal invasion and
occupation of much of its territory by Japan.
"The Chinese people demonstrated to the world their patriotism, national
character, heroism and a strong will to win during the war," Mr. Xi, who is
also Communist Party leader, said in a speech following the ceremony.
"The Chinese people will refuse any person or any force that attempts to
distort the history of the Communist Party, its character or its mission,"
he said.
Mr. Xi's remarks come as China faces increasing political and economic
pressure from the U.S., friction along its border with India and push-back
from European countries and Southeast Asian nations over its economic and
territorial ambitions.
IF VOTED TO POWER, WILL SANCTION CHINESE OFFICIALS RESPONSIBLE FOR HUMAN
RIGHTS ABUSES IN TIBET: JOE BIDEN
Slamming Beijing's plan to further tighten control over Tibet, Democratic
presidential candidate and former vice president Joe Biden has said that if
voted to power, his administration will sanction Chinese officials
responsible for human rights abuses in Tibet.
"My administration will sanction Chinese officials responsible for human
rights abuses in Tibet, and step up support for the Tibetan people,
including by expanding Tibetan language services at Radio Free Asia and
Voice of America to get information from the outside world into Tibet,"
Biden said.
Biden vowed that as president he will meet with His Holiness the Dalai Lama,
appoint a new special coordinator for Tibetan Issues, and insist that the
Chinese government restore access to Tibet for US citizens, including our
diplomats and journalists.
Noting that this past weekend, the Chinese government announced plans to
further tighten control over Tibet, thereby continuing to erode the human
rights, religious freedoms, and dignity of the Tibetan people, Biden said
that these are only the latest efforts by Beijing to crush ethnic minorities
that seek to preserve their distinct culture, language, and beliefs.
"Where (President Donald) Trump has turned a blind eye, a Biden-Harris
administration will stand up for the people of Tibet," Biden said.
RUSSIA WILL HOLD DRILLS IN MEDITERRANEAN: TURKEY
Turkey has announced that Russia will hold live-fire naval exercises in the
eastern Mediterranean, amid escalating tensions between Turkey and its
coastal neighbors Greece and Cyprus over rights to search for energy
resources in the region.
The navigational notice issued on Wednesday said the Russian exercises will
take place during September 8-22 and September 17-25 periods in areas of the
Mediterranean, where Turkish seismic research vessels are operating.
There was no immediate comment from Russia on the exercises, which Turkey
announced after the U.S. said it was partially lifting a 33-year-old arms
embargo against ethnically divided Cyprus.
It's unclear why NATO-member Turkey would announce such drills on Moscow's
behalf, but the two countries have in recent years significantly
strengthened their military, political and economic ties. They are
coordinating closely on their military presence in Syria, while Turkey has
purchased Russia's advanced S-400 missiles and has broken ground on a
Russian-built nuclear power plant on its southern coast.
SRI LANKAN CABINET APPOINTS PANEL TO DRAFT NEW CONSTITUTION
The Cabinet has set up an experts' committee to draft Sri Lanka's new
Constitution, even as the government gazetted the draft of the 20th
Amendment that would reverse the preceding 19th Amendment, a 2015
legislation that clipped certain executive powers of the President.
The move follows the ruling Rajapaksa brothers' poll pledge to abolish the
19th Amendment, introduced by the former government. After a securing a
comfortable two-thirds majority in the August general elections, the
government took up the promise swiftly.
In his inaugural address to Parliament on August 20, President Gotabaya
Rajapaksa announced that Sri Lanka would draft a new Constitution,
jettisoning the 19th Amendment that sought to strengthen Parliament and
independent institutions, besides curbing presidential powers.
NON-BAILABLE ARREST WARRANT ISSUED AGAINST FORMER PAKISTAN PM NAWAZ SHARIF
A Pakistani court on Thursday directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to
execute a non-bailable arrest warrant against former prime minister Nawaz
Sharif in a 34-year-old land allotment case, according to media reports.
During the plot allotment hearing, Model Town Police Inspector Bashir Ahmed
told Lahore Accountability Court's Judge Asad Ali that Sharif was not at his
residence.
The NBA warrant against Sharif comes two days after the Islamabad High Court
gave a "last chance' to the former prime minister to surrender and appear
before it on September 10 in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills graft case.
The Pakistan government has already declared Sharif an "absconder" and
approached the UK government for his extradition.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Accountability and Interior Shahzad Akbar,
last week, said Sharif's four-week bail on medical grounds had expired in
December last year.
Comments (0)