Romania's top court removes far-right candidate from presidential race

Reuters
Sun, October 6, 2024 

Von der Leyen seeks approval from EU lawmakers for another term as European Commission President


BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's top court has removed a pro-Russian far-right politician from the list of presidential candidates in upcoming elections, prompting concerns about democratic values from candidates across the political spectrum.

European Union and NATO member Romania is due to hold a two-round presidential election on Nov. 24 and Dec. 8, with parliamentary polls in between.

Nearly 20 politicians have officially entered the running, with opinion polls showing voter preferences highly fragmented.


Among them is Diana Sosoaca, leader of SOS Romania, a small ultra-nationalist eurosceptic opposition party which surprisingly won two seats in the European Parliament in June.

Romania's Constitutional Court met on Saturday to discuss legal challenges brought against six candidacies.

It rejected five but accepted challenges against Sosoaca without explaining its decision.

Sosoaca, who was live on Facebook at the time of the ruling, told her followers: "This proves the Americans, Jews and the European Union have plotted to rig the Romanian election before it has begun."

"From this moment, we have clear proof that in Romania dictatorship and utter lack of democracy are being discussed."

The court typically releases detailed explanations of its rulings at a later date. Politicians across the political spectrum said the ruling was an unprecedented threat to democratic values.

Because the nine-member court is politically appointed, many politicians also accused it of interference.

Opinion surveys show leftist Social Democrat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu is likely to go through to the second round of the presidential election, but it is unclear who he will run against.

Although the role is largely ceremonial, the president's powers include nominating the prime minister after elections and appointing judges and prosecutors. They also include oversight of foreign policy, meaning the new president will play a critical role in Romania's commitment to supporting Ukraine.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; editing by Giles Elgood)

'God save the Tsar!': Putin hailed in Russia on 72nd birthday

Updated Mon, October 7, 2024 

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin was hailed a 'tsar' on his 72nd birthday on Monday by some supporters who said the former KGB spy had raised Russia up from its knees and would deliver victory against the West in the Ukraine war.

Putin, who took the Kremlin's top job just eight years after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, is the longest serving Kremlin leader since Josef Stalin who died at his dacha outside Moscow in 1953 aged 74.

Cast by Western leaders as an autocrat, killer and war criminal, Putin has seen his popularity rise inside Russia since he ordered thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, according to Russian opinion polls.

"God save the Tsar!," wrote ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin, who has long advocated the unification of Russian-speaking and other territories in a vast new Russian empire which he says must include Ukraine.

"Putin rules the country confidently and unhurriedly. And it shall always be so - well, almost," Dugin added in his birthday greeting, posted on his Telegram messaging channel minutes after midnight.

Unlike most of Russia's historical leaders, Putin has no visible successor. He also has no serious rivals, according to multiple Russian sources.

He is now locked into what Russian officials say is the gravest confrontation with the West - whose combined economies are at least 20 times bigger than Russia's - since the depths of the Cold War.

Opponents say early setbacks in the invasion illustrated Russia's weakness, though U.S. generals say Moscow quickly learned from its failures and has adapted to the demands of the biggest land war in Europe since World War Two.

Russia, like Ukraine, has suffered huge losses of men in the war, and in 2023, Putin faced a failed mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the mercenary Wagner group. Prigozhin's plane crashed two months to the day since the mutiny.

WAR LEADER

Putin, born in Leningrad just seven years after World War Two, has promised Russians victory in the Ukraine war, which he casts as a proxy conflict between holy Russia and an arrogant West which he says humiliated Russia as the Soviet Union crumbled.

As the West stepped up its support for Ukraine with hundreds of billions of dollars in pledged aid, Putin doubled down on his bet on war and used the West's reaction to depict the conflict as an existential battle for Russia's future.

According to a report published on Monday by Moscow-based Minchenko Consulting, Russians are increasingly seeing Putin as a figure who has managed to transform the global order, to their benefit.

"In domestic politics, Vladimir Putin every year acquires completely new features of the archetypal image of the Creator, who creates a new world order in which Russia will have a completely new role," Minchenko Consulting said.

Western leaders have repeatedly said that Putin cannot be allowed to win the war, and that if he does, the West's enemies will be emboldened and Putin might try attacking a NATO member, an assertion that Putin has repeatedly dismissed.

Russian forces are advancing in Ukraine and Putin has hiked defence spending to Cold War levels.

Currently, Russia controls a little under one fifth of Ukraine - including Crimea which it annexed in 2014, about 80% of Donbas in eastern Ukraine, about 71% of the Kherson region and 72% of Zaporizhzhia region.

Opponents have either left Russia, died or are silent. Russia's opposition, almost all abroad, are divided and have failed to find a new leader since the death of Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison in February.

Navalny described Putin's Russia as a brittle criminal state run by thieves, sycophants and spies who care only about money. He had long forecast Russia could face seismic political turmoil, including revolution.

"With Putin, we shall be victorious," Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Russian parliament, said on Monday. "A strong president is a strong Russia."

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Andrew Heavens)

Japan prosecutors won't appeal Hakamada death row acquittal: media

Agence France-Presse
October 8, 2024


Iwao Hakamada (L) is the fifth death row inmate granted a retrial in Japan's post-war history (STR/JIJI PRESS/AFP)

Japanese prosecutors have decided not to appeal against last month's acquittal of the world's longest-serving death row prisoner, Iwao Hakamada, local media reported Tuesday.

After a long fight for justice led by his sister, a court declared on September 27 that Hakamada, 88, was innocent of the quadruple murder for which he spent 46 years waiting to be executed.

The regional tribunal ruled that investigators had tampered with evidence and said the ex-boxer had suffered "inhumane interrogations meant to force a statement".

He was first convicted in 1968 of robbing and killing his boss, the man's wife and their two teenage children.

A retrial was granted in 2014 and Hakamada was released from prison, although legal wrangling meant the proceedings only began last year.

Japanese media, including broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News, reported that prosecutors had decided not to appeal against the latest ruling, paving the way for it to be finalized.

The office of the public prosecutor declined to comment when contacted by AFP. A supporters group for Hakamada said they had no first-hand confirmation.

Japan and the United States are the only two major industrialized countries that still use capital punishment. It has strong public support in Japan, where scrapping it is rarely discussed.

Hakamada is the fifth death row inmate granted a retrial in Japan's post-war history. All four previous cases also resulted in exonerations.

Japan's last execution took place in July 2022, of a man who killed seven in a truck-ramming and stabbing rampage in Tokyo's popular Akihabara electronics district in 2008.

© Agence France-Presse

Kenya's deputy president faces impeachment vote

Agence France-Presse
October 8, 2024

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagu (LUIS TATO/AFP)

Kenya's parliament was set to vote on Tuesday on impeaching Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in a political drama that has exposed a rift in the governing party.

Lawmakers have accused the 59-year-old deputy to President William Ruto of corruption, undermining the government and practising ethnically divisive politics, among a host of other charges.

At a press conference on Monday, Gachagua denied the accusations as "outrageous" and "sheer propaganda", saying it was a scheme to hound him out of office.

Gachagua is a businessman from Kenya's biggest tribe, the Kikuyu. He weathered previous corruption scandals to become deputy leader as Ruto's running mate in a closely fought election in August 2022.

But in recent weeks, he has complained of being sidelined by his boss and been accused of supporting youth-led anti-government protests that broke out in June.

Political tensions have been running high since the sometimes deadly demonstrations erupted over unpopular tax hikes, exposing divisions between Gachagua and Ruto.

Several MPs allied with Gachagua were summoned by police last month, accused of funding the protests.

No formal charges have been lodged by prosecutors and no judicial inquiry has been opened against Gachagua.

But lawmakers have listed 11 grounds for impeachment, including accusations that he amassed assets worth 5.2 billion shillings ($40 million) since the last election, despite an annual salary of just $93,000.

Among the listed assets was Kenya's renowned Treetops Hotel, where Britain's then-Princess Elizabeth was staying when she became queen.

Gachagua says his wealth has come entirely through legitimate business deals and an inheritance from his late brother.

He has warned his removal would stir discontent among his supporters.

Kenyan lawmakers initiated the impeachment process on October 1, with 291 members of parliament backing the motion, well beyond the 117 minimum required.

Two-thirds of the lower house, the National Assembly, must back the motion for it to pass on Tuesday. It would then move to the upper house, the Senate.

If impeached, Gachagua would become the first deputy president to be removed in this way since the possibility was introduced in Kenya's revised 2010 constitution.

From Bolivia to Indonesia, deforestation continues apace

Agence France-Presse
October 8, 2024 

Amazon rainforest being destroyed by illegal fires in Labrea, Brazil in August

 (EVARISTO SA/AFP)

Deforestation continued last year at a rate far beyond pledges to end the practice by 2030, according to a major study published Tuesday.

Forests nearly the size of Ireland were lost in 2023, according to two dozen research organizations, NGOs and advocacy groups, with 6.37 million hectares (15.7 million acres) of trees felled and burned.

This "significantly exceeded" levels that would have kept the world on track to eliminate deforestation by the end of the decade, a commitment made in 2021 by more than 140 leaders.

Forests are home to 80 percent of the world's terrestrial plant and animal species and crucial for regulating water cycles and sequestering CO2, the main greenhouse gas responsible for global warming.

"Globally, deforestation has gotten worse, not better, since the beginning of the decade," said Ivan Palmegiani, a biodiversity and land use consultant at Climate Focus and lead author of the "Forest Declaration Assessment" report.

"We're only six years away from a critical global deadline to end deforestation, and forests continue to be chopped down, degraded, and set ablaze at alarming rates."


In 2023, 3.7 million hectares of tropical primary forest -- particularly carbon rich and ecologically biodiverse environments -- disappeared, a figure that should have fallen significantly to meet the 2030 objective.

- Soya and nickel -

In high-risk regions, researchers pointed to backsliding in Bolivia and in Indonesia.


The report said there was an "alarming rise" in deforestation in Bolivia, which jumped 351 percent between 2015 and 2023.

The "trend shows no sign of abating", it added, with forests largely cleared for agriculture, notably for soya but also beef and sugar.

In Indonesia, deforestation slumped between 2020-2022 but started rising sharply last year.


Ironically, that is partly down to demand for materials often seen as eco-friendly, such as viscose for clothing, and a surge in nickel mining for electric vehicle batteries and renewable energy technologies.

There was better news from Brazil.

While it remains the country with the highest deforestation rates in the world, it has made key progress.


The situation has significantly improved in the Amazon, which has benefited from protective measures put in place by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

However, in the Cerrado, a key tropical savannah below the Amazon, deforestation has increased.

- Degraded forests -


The report also highlights the role of logging, road building and fires in forest degradation, when land is damaged but not razed entirely.

In 2022, the last year data was available, a forest area twice the size of Germany was degraded.

Erin Matson, senior consultant at Climate Focus, and co-author of the report, said "strong policies and strong enforcement" were needed.

"To meet global forest protection targets, we must make forest protection immune to political and economic whims," she said.

The report comes in the wake of the European Commission's proposal last week to postpone by a year (to the end of 2025) the entry into force of its anti-deforestation law, despite protests from NGOs.

"We have to fundamentally rethink our relationship with consumption and our models of production to shift away from a reliance on over exploiting natural resources," said Matson.

As election looms, 3 of 4 voters fear political violence

Jessica Corbett,

 Common Dreams
October 8, 2024 

Man holds gun in front of US flag (Shutterstock.com)

Polling released Monday, less than a month away from the November 5 election, shows that nearly three-quarters of U.S. voters are worried about political violence and believe it is likely because some people will not accept the results.

The latest Civil Rights Monitor Poll, commissioned by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, is based on responses from 1,000 likely voters across the country, who were surveyed September 3-8.

Pollsters found that "81% of voters believe that democracy is under threat, and 73% are worried about political violence after the elections in November," the conference said. "Liberals are much more worried (92%) about political violence than moderates and conservatives (68% and 63%, respectively)."

"We are... elevating Project 2025 as a blueprint to undermine the very values we see supported in three years of polling."

This year's presidential contest is between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and former Republican President Donald Trump, who during the 2020 cycle repeatedly lied about his loss and even incited some supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol during the certification of the results on January 6, 2021.

Although Trump has tried to disavow the Heritage Foundation-led Project 2025, previous polling has shown a majority of Americans believe the ex-president is aligned with its policy blueprint, which was crafted by at least 140 people who worked in the first Trump administration, including six former Cabinet secretaries.

"Project 2025 has become widely known (70% can identify it), and voters are broadly cold towards it (54% rate it 0-49 on a thermometer scale of 0-100)," according to the new poll. "Cuts to overtime pay (91%), cuts to Social Security (86%), and government monitoring of pregnancies (85%) are the components of the Project 2025 agenda that voters oppose the most."

The conference said that "among the most important issues for voters in the elections this year are inflation and the economy (42%, which is up eight points from the previous year), immigration and border security (33%), and protecting our democracy and freedoms (22%)."

Similar to last year, large majorities of respondents agreed that Americans are sacrificing too much of their privacy for Big Tech (86%); diversity makes the country stronger (79%); marriage equality should be protected (77%); the government must do more to protect the civil and human rights of communities of color (69%); abortion access should be a legally protected right (64%); and sexism is a big problem in today's society (63%).

Smaller majorities said that the government should do more to lessen racial inequality in society (59%); artificial intelligence is a threat to jobs (57%); immigrants contribute more to America than they take (57%); America is on the path to another Civil War (55%); and the respondent's heritage, traditions, and cultural identity is under attack (52%).

Additionally, the conference said, "white supremacy is an issue that most voters are worried about, with more than half of respondents (52%) stating they are more worried, including 65% of Black and 64% of Hispanic voters."

The poll also shows that "an astounding 93% of voters are extremely motivated to vote this November, up seven points from last year (86%)."

Maya Wiley, the conference's president and CEO, said in a Monday statement that "voters know what's at stake in this election."

"It's clear that in this presidential year voters want to vote even while they worry about political violence and know democracy is on the ballot," she continued. "This most recent poll shows that voters want to vote more than ever despite, or perhaps because, our democracy is threatened with the dark cloud of election denial and violence. In 2024, voters must know that they will decide the outcome of the election—not a political party, extremist groups, or purveyors of disinformation."

"The civil rights community is organized and actively working on voter education, get-out–the-vote efforts, election protection, and combating disinformation, and we are also elevating Project 2025 as a blueprint to undermine the very values we see supported in three years of polling," she added. "We will continue to combat racism, xenophobia, and efforts to divide us along race and immigration lines. Democracy requires passionate persistence, and our Civil Rights Monitor Poll reassures us that the majority of Americans agree."

Pastor wanted by U.S. for sex trafficking to run for Philippine senate

Agence France-Presse
October 8, 2024 

Apollo Quiboloy, a detained Philippine pastor also wanted in the United States for sex trafficking children, registered Tuesday to run in next year's senate elections (Jam Sta Rosa/AFP)

A detained Philippine pastor who is also wanted in the United States for sex trafficking children registered Tuesday to run in next year's senate elections.

Apollo Quiboloy, an ally of former president Rodrigo Duterte, is a self-proclaimed "Appointed Son of God" whose sect claims millions of followers.

The 74-year-old was arrested last month and is currently detained in Manila and facing charges of child abuse, sexual abuse and human trafficking. One of his lawyers filed his candidacy paperwork.

"He wants to be a part of the solution to the problems of our country. He is running because of God and our beloved Philippines," lawyer Mark Christopher Tolentino said.

Quiboloy pledges to promote laws that are "God-centered, Philippine-centred and Filipino-centred", Tolentino told journalists after submitting the candidacy papers to election officials.

The circumstances are not without precedent.

In May 2022, Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada won a senate seat while on trial for corruption. He took up the post and was acquitted in January.

Another was rights campaigner Leila de Lima, who spent the majority of her six-year senate term in prison after being detained in 2017 on drugs charges. She was cleared this year.

Candidates are only disqualified from standing in senate elections if they have exhausted all appeals after being convicted of offences involving "moral turpitude", according to the election code which does not list specific crimes.


Quiboloy was charged by the United States in 2021 with sex trafficking of girls and women to work as personal assistants, who were allegedly required to have sex with him during what they said was their "night duty".

He is also sought by U.S. authorities for bulk cash smuggling and a scheme that brought church members to the US through fraudulently obtained visas.

They were then forced to solicit donations for a bogus charity, raising funds that were instead used to finance church operations and the lavish lifestyles of its leaders, according to the FBI.


Twelve of the 24 senate seats are up for grabs in next year's midterm polls, along with more than 18,000 congressional and local government executive posts.

Former police chief who raided Kansas newspaper returns to face criminal charges

Anna Kaminski, Kansas Reflector

Sherman Smith, Kansas Reflector
October 8, 2024 

Police raided the Marion County Record office on Aug 11, 2023, after Magistrate Judge Laura Viar authorized search warrants without regard for federal and state law that prohibit the search and seizure of journalists’ materials. The newspaper office is seen here on July 25, 2024. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)

MARION — Former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody returned Monday to the town where he raided a newspaper to face a dozen journalists along with a felony charge for his actions after the raid.

Cody led police in the Aug. 11, 2023, raid on the Marion County Record, the editor’s home and a councilwoman’s home under the false pretense that a newspaper reporter had committed identity theft by looking up restaurateur Kari Newell’s driving record. Special prosecutors charged Cody with one count of interference with the judicial process, a low-level felony, for asking Newell after the raid to delete text messages between the two. Cody told her he was concerned their relationship would be misinterpreted, according to court documents.

One year later, Cody is party to five federal civil lawsuits in addition to the criminal case.


Monday’s hearing, which lasted less than 10 minutes, was Cody’s first public appearance in the town since he resigned as police chief amid intense scrutiny in October 2023. In a courtroom with an audience mostly of reporters, Cody was straight-faced and silent.

District Judge Ryan Rosauer rejected Cody’s motion to dismiss the charge for lack of probable cause.

Rosauer, prosecutors and Cody’s defense agreed that Cody won’t be required to appear in court for minor hearings and case proceedings, including the case’s next scheduled hearing on Dec. 16. Court filings show Cody is believed to be living in Hawaii.

Cody and Sal Intagliata, a Wichita attorney who is defending Cody, declined to answer reporters’ questions as they left the courthouse. Intagliata said the “full story” would come out as the case is litigated in court. Cody didn’t speak.

Intagliata, as he ushered Cody into a car, told reporters: “If I have any comment at all on behalf of Mr. Cody, it would be this: that the people of Marion County, really the most important people involved in this situation, take a minute to reserve judgment, take a moment to, like, avoid jumping to conclusions, and allow the system to work.”

Cody won’t be required to pay a cash bond. Instead, Rosauer ordered a $5,000 personal recognizance bond, which Cody only will have to pay if he fails to show up to court when required.

If convicted, Cody would face presumed probation

Following the hearing, Marion County Record editor and publisher Eric Meyer answered questions from a dozen reporters who gathered outside the newspaper office across the street from the courthouse. They asked him to respond to Intagliata.

“We can take a delay of the justice system, as long as the delay actually results in proper assessment of things,” Meyer said. “We’re not in a hurry. He should have plenty of time to think about what he did.”

Meyer said Cody shouldn’t be the only one who is charged with a crime. Others, Meyer said, should have intervened — including other police officers, the sheriff, the county attorney, and the magistrate who signed the search warrants.

“Somewhere the system failed,” Meyer said. “These are the people who are supposed to protect our rights. They didn’t do it. That’s why I hate to see Gideon Cody be the fall guy for all this. Yes, he deserves a great deal of credit or blame for what went on in here, but there are others who were well aware of it.”

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and X.

KARMA IS A BITCH

'Tough spot': Investigation finds Trump's 'prized possession' sinking in massive debt

Kathleen Culliton

RAW STORY
October 7, 2024 

President Donald J. Trump speaking at his campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa at Drake University's Knapp Center. (Aspects and Angles / Shutterstock.com)

A beloved building belonging to former President Donald Trump appears to be drowning in debt as problematic financial deadlines loom, according to a new financial analysis.

Trump's 63-story high rise at 40 Wall St. in New York City is currently worth $2 million less than the $118 million Trump owes on his $160 million mortgage — and its income continues to plummet, according to a recent Forbes report.

"The building is simply not earning enough money to cover the loan," Forbes reported. "Adding to the headaches: Trump, who doesn’t own the land on which the building sits, has just nine years left until his ground rent escalates dramatically."

Trump, with $566 million of legal liabilities and just $413 million in cash, will reportedly have to pay his $118 million debt to Ladder Capital by July.

But the building's operating income has nearly halved from about $21 million in 2018 to $12.8 million in 2023, according to Forbes.

"That leaves the Republican presidential candidate in a tough spot as the November election approaches, short on funds to save one of his prized possessions," according to Forbes.

Should Trump clear this hurdle, he'll face another in 2033, Forbes reported.

That's when the German company that owns the land underneath 40 Wall St. is scheduled to implement a near sixfold increase to the cost of Trump's lease, according to the report.

"That shift would cause Trump’s ground rent to soar from $2.8 million in 2032 to $16.3 million the following year," Forbes reported.

"If the rest of 40 Wall Street’s financial picture remained the same as it is today, that would leave Trump with a negative $5 million in net operating income in 2033."

Trump's options in July 2025 will be to seek another loan, use his own money or declare bankruptcy on the property, according to Forbes.

The Forbes analysis argued option one would represent a struggle, option two would be fiscally uncomfortable and option three would make history.

"It would be his seventh bankruptcy," Forbes reported, "although it’d break new ground for him by being his first not involving a hotel."

'Darkest chapters of world history': DHS head slams Trump's 'bad genes' remark

Matthew Chapman

RAW STORY
October 7, 2024 

Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Department of Homeland Security participates in chat with Reverend Al Sharpton at NAN 2023 Convention at Sheraton Times Square in New York on April 12, 2023 (Photo: Lev Radin/Shutterstock)

Former President Donald Trump's insinuation that migrants have "bad genes" during his interview with right-wing talk radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday contains echoes of murderous hatred from the past, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned MSNBC's Jen Psaki.

"You are a child of immigrants yourself, also as Secretary of Department of Homeland Security, you oversee, you watch this issue closely," said Psaki, who previously served as White House press secretary. "I want to play something he said this morning and get your thoughts on that."

She played the clip.

"She has no clue," said Trump, speaking about Vice President Kamala Harris. "How about allowing people to come to an open border, 13,000 of which were murderers, many of them murdered more than one person and happily living in the United States. You know, a murderer, I believe this, it's in their genes. And we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now."

"I mean, that's obviously disgusting, what he just said," said Psaki. "And I want to put politics aside here and ask you, kind of on a personal level, but also if I may, as the secretary of Homeland Security: how concerned are you with repetition of that rhetoric, and how migrant communities are being targeted by his supporters?"

Mayorkas made clear it hurt and scared him deeply.

"I think, Jen, you put it powerfully just a few minutes ago, and quite pointedly: We have parents who are scared to send their children to school because of this demonization, because of the false information to the targeting of migrants," said Mayorkas. "In our darkest chapters of world history, we have seen this demonization victimize millions of people. You reference my personal story. Six million Jews were killed in World War II. My mother lost a tremendous amount of family precisely because of this type of rhetoric, and the violence that it breeds."

Watch the video below or at the link here.