Biden to issue historic apology for abuse of Native American children

Washington (AFP) – President Joe Biden said Thursday he will issue a formal apology for the treatment of Native American children who were forcibly removed from their families by the US government and put into an abusive boarding school system.

For over 150 years, the schools sought to forcibly assimilate Native Americans, with a recent government report detailing numerous cases of physical, mental and sexual abuse, as well as the deaths of over 950 children.

"I'm heading to do something that should have been done a long time ago," the president said as he left the White House. "To make a formal apology to the Indian nations for the way we treated their children for so many years."

Biden is scheduled to make the official apology Friday on a visit to the Gila River Indian Reservation in Arizona, one of the states with the highest Native American populations in the country and a key battleground in the US election.

The boarding schools, which were run by the US government, were in operation from the early 19th century until the 1970s.

The report found at least 973 children died at these schools, many of which were far from their original homes.

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the first Native American cabinet secretary in US history, was a major force behind the investigation that produced the report.

The Native American boarding schools run by the US government -- such as this one in Genoa, Nebraska -- were in operation from the early 19th century until the 1970s © Stacy Revere / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

"For more than a century, tens of thousands of Indigenous children as young as four years old, were taken from their families and communities and forced into boarding schools," Haaland told reporters. "This includes my own family."

"For decades, this terrible chapter was hidden from our history books," she continued. "But now our administration's work will ensure that no one will ever forget."

The apology follows formal declarations in Canada, where thousands of children died at similar boarding schools, and other countries around the world where historic abuses of Indigenous populations are increasingly being recognized.

In a statement, the White House said the apology was being issued in order to "remember and teach our full history, even when it is painful."

"That the president is taking that step tomorrow is so historic, I'm not sure I could adequately put its impact into words," Haaland said.

Biden's visit to Arizona, a state he narrowly won in 2020, comes in the midst of an extremely close presidential campaign between Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former president Donald Trump.

© 2024 AFP

Gaza war, settler attacks ruin Palestinian olive harvest

Middle East

© AFP

Issued on: 24/10/2024 - 
Video by: Juliette MONTILLY

After a year of relentless war, Gaza's olive harvest is set to suffer, while in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian farmers fear to tend their groves due to settler attacks. "Day after day, the settlers repeat their attacks on the village of Burqa every day. Every day they enter and attack, cutting down trees, burning trees, and picking their fruit," says Sael Kanaan, council head of Burqa, a village east of Ramallah.

We have documented cases of sexual violence in Israeli prisons: Palestinian activist

Issued on: 24/10/2024 

Video by: Sharon GAFFNEY

Palestinian women's rights activist, Joharah Baker, is among five women who are at the UN in New York this week to speak about gendered violence in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. They claim Israeli forces are using sexual violence as a 'weapon of genocide'. Joharah Baker tells FRANCE 24 that they have documented cases of sexual violence against women in Israeli prisons from Gaza and the West Bank.

Commonwealth presses UK to atone for brutal past

Apia (Samoa) (AFP) – Britain's King Charles faced calls to reckon with his country's colonial past Friday, as a summit of Commonwealth allies turned into a factious debate about the legacy of slavery and empire.

Leaders from the 56-nation Commonwealth -- made up mostly of British ex-colonies -- gathered for a summit in Samoa © Manaui Faulalo / POOL/AFP

Leaders from the 56-nation Commonwealth -- made up mostly of British ex-colonies -- gathered for a summit in Samoa, hoping to prove the bloc is still relevant.

But instead of uniting to tackle pressing issues like climate change, Charles III's maiden summit as king has been overshadowed by history.

Many African, Caribbean and Pacific nations want to see Britain -- and other European powers -- pay financial compensation for slavery, or to at least make political amends.

They want this summit in particular to commit to a discussion on the topic of reparatory justice -- a debate Britain's cash-strapped government has tried to stymie.

The Bahamas' Prime Minister Philip Davis told AFP that a debate about the past was vital.

"The time has come to have a real dialogue about how we address these historical wrongs," he said.

"Reparatory justice is not an easy conversation, but it's an important one," Davis added.

"The horrors of slavery left a deep, generational wound in our communities, and the fight for justice and reparatory justice is far from over".

The British royal family, which benefited from the slave trade over centuries, has also faced calls to apologise.

But the monarch stopped well short of that on Friday, asking summit attendees to "reject the language of division".

"I understand, from listening to people across the Commonwealth, how the most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate," he said.

"None of us can change the past. But we can commit, with all our hearts to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to right inequalities that endure."
'Honesty and integrity'

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has rejected calls to pay reparations over Britain's colonial past © Fiona GOODALL / POOL/AFP

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has publicly rejected calls to pay reparations, and aides have ruled out an apology at the summit.

A draft summit communique calling for debate on colonialism is the subject of fierce negotiations.

One diplomatic source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that developed countries were trying to water down the language in the final communique.

"The call for reparations isn't simply about financial compensation; it's about recognising the enduring impact of centuries of exploitation and ensuring that the legacy of slavery is addressed with honesty and integrity," Davis insisted.

Joshua Setipa from Lesotho -- who is one of three candidates vying to be the next Commonwealth's secretary-general -- said reparations could include non-traditional forms of payment such as climate financing.

"We can find a solution that will begin to address some injustices of the past and put them in the context happening around us today," he told AFP ahead of the summit.

Kingsley Abbott, Director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London said the apparent inclusion of the text on reparatory justice was a "significant advancement" for the Commonwealth.

He told AFP it "reveals the door to meaningful dialogue is opening".

The British monarch is concluding an 11-day tour of Australia and Samoa, both independent Commonwealth states -- the first major foreign trip since his cancer diagnosis earlier this year.

© 2024 AFP

Commonwealth struggles to overcome splits over brutal past

Apia (Samoa) (AFP) – Britain's King Charles deflected calls to atone for his country's colonial past Friday, as a summit of Commonwealth allies turned into a factious debate about the legacy of slavery and empire.

Britain's King Charles III watches as dancers perform during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Apia, Samoa 

© WILLIAM WEST / POOL/AFP

Leaders from the 56-nation Commonwealth -- made up mostly of British ex-colonies -- gathered for a summit in Samoa, hoping to prove the bloc is united and still relevant.

But instead of finding common cause on pressing issues like climate change, Charles III's maiden summit as king has been overshadowed by history.

Many African, Caribbean and Pacific nations want to see Britain -- and other European powers -- pay financial compensation for slavery, or to at least make political amends.

They want UK leaders to commit to a discussion on reparatory justice -- which could involve financial payments.

It is a debate Britain's cash-strapped government has worked hard to avoid.

Performers dance during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Apia, Samoa © Fiona GOODALL / POOL/AFP

But the Bahamas' Prime Minister Philip Davis told AFP that a real discussion about the past was vital.

"The time has come to have a real dialogue about how we address these historical wrongs," he said. "Reparatory justice is not an easy conversation, but it's an important one."

"The horrors of slavery left a deep, generational wound in our communities, and the fight for justice and reparatory justice is far from over".

Experts estimate that over four centuries about 10-15 million slaves were brought from Africa to the Americas.

The true figure, and human toll may never be known. The practice finally ended around 1870.

The British royal family, which benefited from the slave trade over centuries, has faced calls to itself apologise.

The Parliament of Samoa during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Apia, Samoa © William WEST / AFP

But the monarch stopped well short of that on Friday, asking delegates to "reject the language of division".

"I understand, from listening to people across the Commonwealth, how the most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate," he said.

"None of us can change the past. But we can commit, with all our hearts, to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to right inequalities that endure."
'Honesty and integrity'

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also dismissed calls to pay reparations, and aides have ruled out an apology at the summit.

"The slave trade, slave practice was abhorrent and it's very important that we start from that place," Starmer told UK public broadcaster the BBC at the summit.

"The question then is 'where do we go from there?' My posture, if you like, is that we should look forward, that we should look at what are today's challenges."

A draft summit communique calling for debate on colonialism is still the subject of fierce negotiations.

One diplomatic source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that developed countries were trying to water down the language in the final text.

"The call for reparations isn't simply about financial compensation; it's about recognising the enduring impact of centuries of exploitation and ensuring that the legacy of slavery is addressed with honesty and integrity," Davis insisted.


Lesotho's Joshua Setipa -- one of three candidates vying to be the next Commonwealth's secretary-general -- said reparations could include non-traditional forms of payment such as climate financing.

"We can find a solution that will begin to address some injustices of the past and put them in the context happening around us today," he told AFP ahead of the summit.

He told AFP it "reveals the door to meaningful dialogue is opening".

The British monarch is concluding an 11-day tour of Australia and Samoa, both independent Commonwealth states -- the first major foreign trip since his cancer diagnosis earlier this year.

© 2024 AFP

-- -- -

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Eric Williams Capitalism and Slavery - fnac-static.com

colonial world without an engagement with Eric Williams's Capitalism and ... tion of the Slave Trade', was published as Capitalism and Slavery in 1944,.

- -- -

'Freedom': Russian anti-war sisters find new home in exile

Nienburg (Germany) (AFP) – In a Russian forest, the Grigoryeva sisters had found a comforting refuge in their old wooden house, their "izba".

The twin siblings, who were active in their homeland against the war in Ukraine, left Russia and started a new life in Germany 

© FOCKE STRANGMANN / AFP

It was an isolated spot where the twins felt safe despite the war in Ukraine and Kremlin repression.

It was there that their father, a Russian paratrooper, spoke to them of his disgust at the actions of the Russian army during the battle for Kyiv in which he took part in 2022.

Months into Russia's invasion, he was already deeply psychologically scarred, haunted by his demons.

In August 2022, AFP spoke to Anastasia and Yelizaveta Grigoryeva in Pskov in western Russia, a garrison city for the 76th Guards Air Assault Division where their father served.


The 18-year-olds asked him then if he had committed war crimes. He assured them he had never killed anyone.

According to various media, the 76th division was involved in the massacre of hundreds of civilians in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, that has become a symbol of alleged Russian atrocities.

While their father was away fighting, the girls protested against the invasion in Pskov on March 6, 2022.

The sisters' story gave an insight into the human and moral cost of the war for Russians, even as President Vladimir Putin's regime imprisoned or exiled critics of the invasion 

© FOCKE STRANGMANN / AFP

They were arrested and fined.

The sisters' story gave an insight into the human and moral cost of the war for Russians, even as President Vladimir Putin's regime imprisoned or exiled critics of the invasion.

The Grigoryevas swore they would continue their anti-war activism.

They said their father planned to quit the army on medical grounds.

After telling AFP in 2022 that she felt a "huge feeling of guilt" for the suffering of Ukrainians and denouncing Russian "war crimes", Anastasia was called in for questioning by the authorities.

She did not go. Then a court ordered her to pay a fine for "discrediting the army", under a law used by Moscow to silence dissent. She did not pay it.

Yelizaveta moved to St Petersburg, where she was arrested at a protest against mobilisation in September 2022. She spent three days in jail.
'A feeling of freedom'

From time to time, Yelizaveta would send news about her and Anastasia to the AFP journalists who had interviewed her. Two years went by.

On October 2, AFP caught up with them in Nienburg/Weser, a town in the German state of Lower Saxony.

Yelizaveta said the town is known for "its museum and asparagus festival".

The twins talked about their new lives as they walked through Nienburg's historic centre and showed their apartment, which had little furniture and smelled of washing.

They planned to go to the Munich beer festival later with some new Russian friends -- young exiles like them.

A court ordered Anastasia to pay a fine for "discrediting the army", under a law used by Moscow to silence dissent © FOCKE STRANGMANN / AFP

Now aged 20, the sisters have grown up.

Their once hesitant voices are clearer now. They resemble each other more and more with their black clothes, long copper-red hair and piercings.

But they are still different.

Yelizaveta is more impulsive and extrovert. Anastasia, who now likes to be known as "Stas", measures her words and often speaks with irony.

Back to September 2022. The sisters felt in danger and feared being charged for crimes punishable by prison time for their activism.

An association put them in touch with a man who could take them to Estonia, across the border from the Pskov region, by crossing over illegally.

Fearing a trap by the FSB security service, they turned down the offer.

They thought of hiding away in their izba where there was no mobile network and where, Yelizaveta said, "sometimes the wolves and bears roam".

"There's no real road to get there, so the police would not have been able to reach it," Stas said.

They finally left Russia in November 2022 for Georgia, which they could enter without a visa.

Tens of thousands of Russians also fled there to escape mobilisation and growing repression.

The sisters lived there for a year.

Helped by a non-governmental organisation, Stas applied for a humanitarian visa to Germany.

Six months later, she received a positive reply. In December 2023, they arrived in Lower Saxony, spent a month in a refugee centre, then got their lodging in Nienburg, paid for by the region, and a living allowance.

"We finally have some stability" and "a feeling of freedom", said Stas, who is now learning German in school.

'Destroy myself'

Yelizaveta's face tenses up.

She is not doing as well as her sister. While living in St Petersburg in the autumn of 2022 she suffered "serious physical and psychological trauma".

While Russia was mobilising hundreds of thousands of men and hundreds of thousands more were fleeing, she found herself in a spiral of sex and drugs.

"It was an unstable time, the world was collapsing around me and it was like I wanted to destroy myself," she said.
Yelizaveta (R) was diagnosed with depression, post-traumatic stress and eating disorders © FOCKE STRANGMANN / AFP

One night, facing money problems, she was taken in by a man who "posed as a kind person" who, she said, drugged and raped her.

She kept the emotions pent up inside. It then all came out during a meeting in German in June 2024 with a councillor.

She spent two and a half months in a psychiatric hospital. She was diagnosed with depression, post-traumatic stress and eating disorders.

Yelizaveta still goes to a hospital in the nearby city of Hanover several times a week. She goes to therapy.

The sisters talk about their father. He never left the army but "he is no longer fighting", said Yelizaveta, adding that he is still "very sick".

He calls them in his dark hours and tells them "details full of blood".

They also keep in touch with their mother, their grandmothers and their aunt.

Stas said she feels the family understands "the ongoing horror" in Russia but tries to live "in a bubble" by saying nothing in public for fear of government repression.

In Germany, the sisters said they do not feel any "Russophobia" -- an accusation frequently used by the Kremlin against the Western world.

"The main russophobe is the Russian government which detests its own people," Yelizaveta said.

They are also critical of the infighting within Russia's exiled opposition and said they plan to meet with and help Ukrainians.

"Slava Ukraini -- and that's it," said Yelizaveta, using a slogan of support for Kyiv.

In their sitting room hangs a large yellow and blue Ukrainian flag.

Yelizaveta said her dream was to heal and find "a reliable partner".

Stas said she just wanted to live in "a hut in a pine forest".

"Really?" Yelizaveta said. "Then me too."

© 2024 AFP

Drifting off - US late night talk shows no longer must-see TV

New York (AFP) – America's late night talk shows once were appointment viewing, but with ratings tanking and ad revenues plummeting, their coveted place on the small screen is in question.

Barack Obama appeared 'The Tonight Show" with then host Jay Leno in 2009 © MANDEL NGAN / AFP/File

The hosts of yesterday and today -- comedians from Johnny Carson and Jay Leno to Jimmy Fallon and Jon Stewart -- are household names, and their jokes were once mandatory conversation starters at the water cooler.

But NBC, home to "The Tonight Show," hosted by Fallon, recently moved from five new episodes a week to four -- a sign of the not-so-great times.

"Late night TV is just not that relevant in today's television world," said Jeffrey McCall, a professor specializing in media at DePauw University in Indiana.

Each show follows a similar formula -- a host sits behind a desk and celebrity guests tell funny anecdotes, promote their latest work, and even play self-deprecating games for audience amusement.
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Thanks to the advent of streaming and clips going viral on the internet, these hosts -- David Letterman and Stephen Colbert are other examples -- have become globally recognized.

But the format is stagnating: the most popular among them, Colbert's "Late Show" on CBS, has seen its audience slashed by 32 percent over the last five years.

And ad revenue is vanishing. In the first eight months of 2024, it fell 10 percent, according to media analytics firm Guideline, after an even bigger drop last year.

"Late night was once a fabulous generator of profit," because shows were cheaper to produce than primetime fare and featured abundant commercial time, explained Bill Carter, the author of several books on the topic.

"Profits the shows provide have shrunk toward non-existent."

NBC's decision to cut one episode of "The Tonight Show" per week came after CBS and ABC -- Kimmel's home network -- had done the same thing.

In the last three years, several high-profile hosts have thrown in the towel, including Conan O'Brien (TBS) and James Corden (CBS) -- prompting the networks to scrap their programs altogether.

In the middle of the 2010s, late-night TV seized the moment offered by YouTube, where clips could be posted, consumed whenever and sometimes go viral.

Corden created a worldwide success with his "Carpool Karaoke" series featuring superstars singing with him in his car.

But even that online money-spinning success has dried up, with YouTube offering advertisers far lower rates than traditional network broadcasts.

The podcast threat

© John Lamparski / AFP/File

Another issue is that late night programs have a limited shelf life, unlike films or scripted television series, which have found a second life on streaming platforms.

"I do think the format needs updating. It has basically been the same since Steve Allen," Carter said, referring to the first host of "The Tonight Show" in 1954, who is considered the father of the genre.

For Mitch Semel, who oversaw the production of several late night shows, "there was a lot of comfort in having a show be the same every night or every week."

"Now, we're in an era where people like much more, playing with formats, surprising viewers, trying to mash genres and styles together," he said.

Streaming platforms facing strained budgets have attempted to join the late night game, with Hasan Minhaj's "Patriot Act" on Netflix or Amazon Prime's "Influenced," which targeted younger viewers by tackling trending topics on social media.

"The late night hosts historically need viewers who tend to be younger," McCall said. "At this point, Kimmel, Fallon and Colbert are all 50+ years of age, with Colbert now 60. They would seem rather old."

As if the competition for viewers from series, films, social media and sports events was not enough, late night shows also must contend with podcasts filmed and aired on YouTube and Spotify, which Carter says "offer some of the flavor of late night."

Jimmy Kimmel hosts a late night show on ABC © Patrick T. Fallon / AFP/File

"The Joe Rogan Experience," the most downloaded podcast in the world, and the popular "Call Her Daddy" offer viewers spontaneity and the unexpected.

Those were once both hallmarks of late night, but now, "even the guest segments are very carefully prepared" on network shows, according to Semel.

A podcast without time constraints that can evolve in real time "brings more enjoyment for the guests and for the hosts, and probably by translation, for the listeners and viewers as well," Semel said.

"We all like it when we see people who are talking genuinely having fun, not manufactured fun."

© 2024 AFP

Huge US lithium mine gets govt approval

Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – An enormous lithium mine in the Nevada desert was granted final government approval Thursday in a project the miner predicts will quadruple US production of a mineral critical to the renewable energy revolution.

A Tiehm's buckwheat plant starts to bud in its native habitat in the Silver Peak Range in Esmeralda County, Nevada beside Rhyolite Ridge, the site of a proposed lithium mine © Robyn Beck / AFP

Operations at Rhyolite Ridge will produce enough lithium to supply the batteries for more than 370,000 electric vehicles every year, Australian operator Ioneer said.

The plant will create 500 construction jobs over the next few years and 350 jobs during its decades of extraction, the company said.

"There are few deposits in the world as impactful as Rhyolite Ridge," said Ioneer Executive Chairman James Calaway, heralding the permit issued Thursday by the Bureau of Land Management.

The company's managing director, Bernard Rowe, said construction would begin next year.

"This permit gives us a license to commence construction in 2025 and begin our work in creating hundreds of good-paying rural jobs, generating millions in tax revenue for Esmeralda County, and bolstering the domestic production of critical minerals," he said.

The news comes less than two weeks before Americans go to the polls to elect a new president, and will be welcomed in Nevada, where unemployment is well above the national average.

The administration of President Joe Biden has made the green transition a key plank of its economic policy, investing heavily in technologies aimed at slashing the pollution that is causing the climate to change.

Scientists say electric vehicles are a vital link in that chain, and their widespread adoption in the car-dependent US will be vital if the country is to meet its carbon reduction targets.

Biden has tried to nudge the US auto industry to re-tool and shift production away from gas-guzzlers and into electric cars, in a move he says will help create jobs at home.

Subsidies for consumers have rewarded automakers who produce EVs in the United States, even while they struggle to source lithium batteries -- a sector dominated by strategic rival China.

But the project at Rhyolite Ridge has highlighted the trade-off between the need to adapt energy sources and the desire to protect the planet's biodiversity.

Campaigners say the mine will threaten the unique habitat of the endangered Tiehm's Buckwheat -- a rare wildflower with delicate cream-colored blossoms that grows only in this corner of Nevada.

"By greenlighting this mine the Bureau of Land Management is abandoning its duty to protect endangered species like Tiehm's Buckwheat and it's making a mockery of the Endangered Species Act," said Patrick Donnelly of the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit conservation group.

"We need lithium for the energy transition, but it can't come with a price tag of extinction."

Ioneer admits that over the years the mine is in operation around a fifth of the flower's habitat will be directly affected.

But the company, which has spent $2.5 million researching the plant, says mining will not affect its survival, insisting their experiments show it is already growing well in greenhouses.

© 2024 AFP

Shigeru Ishiba: Japan's new PM on shaky ground

Agence France-Presse
October 24, 2024 

Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (AFP)

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba likes crafting model ships but his short tenure could come unstuck if the gamble of calling snap elections goes as badly on Sunday as some polls suggest.

The self-confessed defense "geek" is a fan of trains, 1970s pop idols and making military models, including once of a Soviet aircraft carrier for a visiting Russian defense minister.

Last month the 67-year-old saw off eight other candidates to become head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed Japan almost uninterrupted for seven decades.

He took office on October 1, replacing Fumio Kishida, who suffered from discontent over rising prices, a slush fund scandal and LDP ties to a Christian movement in the wake of the 2022 assassination of ex-premier Shinzo Abe.

Although relatively popular with the public -- at least before becoming PM -- Ishiba had four previous failed bids to lead the party including in 2012 against his arch-rival Abe.

Ishiba long alienated party heavyweights with his "outspoken criticism of LDP policies under Abe", said Yu Uchiyama, a politics professor at the University of Tokyo.


But he became "vocal about the need for the LDP to turn over a new leaf," which may have worked in his favor, Uchiyama told AFP.

- 'New Japan' -

Despite hiccups, including over a doctored photo of the cabinet, Ishiba got off to a good start and called snap elections after barely a week in office.


"This is an attempt to create a new Japan that will drastically change the nature of Japanese society. In order to boldly carry out this major change, we need the confidence of the people," he declared.

He pledged to revitalize depressed rural regions and to address the "quiet emergency" of Japan's falling population with measures to support families like flexible working hours.

This decade, he said he wants to hike the average national minimum wage by nearly 43 percent to 1,500 yen ($9.80) per hour, although experts worry this will hurt small firms.


In a reference to China, Ishiba said that "today's Ukraine could be tomorrow's East Asia", with the regional environment "the most severe since the end of World War II".

He has also backed the creation of a regional military alliance along the lines of NATO to counter China, although he has since cautioned it would "not happen overnight".

But Ishiba's support before becoming premier for the Bank of Japan's exit from its ultra-loose policies sent the yen surging and stocks tumbling after he won the LDP leadership.


He steadied markets by stating the time was not right for more interest rate hikes.

- Rowing back -

Early polls gave Ishiba's cabinet approval ratings of 45-50 percent, compared with 20-30 percent for the hapless Kishida administration's final month.


But Ishiba's ratings have since fallen, not helped by him rowing back his position on issues including allowing married couples to take separate surnames.

He also walked back on a commitment to increase the tax rate on capital gains, saying he was "not currently considering a specific tax increase".

The father-of-two also missed a chance to appear more modern by appointing only two women to his cabinet, down from five under Kishida.


Popularity among voters is a different beast to the LDP leadership contest, where Ishiba "appeared popular because he occupied a unique position, standing in opposition to PM Abe and his successors within the party", said Yosuke Sunahara, professor of public administration at Kobe University.

"Now the focus has shifted from an internal party race to competition between parties. Unlike Abe, who was known for his hawkish stance and reform-driven agenda, it has become harder for Ishiba to distinguish himself," Sunahara told AFP.

A Kyodo News survey last weekend put the approval rating for Ishiba's cabinet at 41.4 percent, down from 42.0 percent a week earlier.


Other polls warn the LDP could fail to win a majority on its own for the first time since 2009.

Some paint an even sorrier picture, suggesting that even seats from the LDP's junior coalition party will not be enough for Ishiba to form a government without other partners.

"Regardless of what the election results are, Ishiba's longevity as prime minister is in question," said Rintaro Nishimura at think-tank The Asia Group.


"There is a group of people (in the LDP) that could form a critical mass... and try and usher in a change. Not a change in government, but a change in leadership within the LDP," Nishimura said.

© Agence France-Presse

Austrian lawmakers elect first far-right parliament president

Agence France-Presse
October 24, 2024 

Walter Rosenkranz of Austria's Freedom Party (FPOe) was elected the president of Austria's parliament despite the local Jewish community criticizing him for having paid 'homage to Nazi criminals' (Alex HALADA/AFP)

Austrian lawmakers on Thursday elected for the first time a far-right politician as parliament president despite the Jewish community criticising the nominee for having paid "hommage to Nazi criminals".

The far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) won national polls for the first time last month, gaining almost a third of the votes, though it has been unable to find partners to form a government.

But as the strongest party, it nominated lawmaker Walter Rosenkranz, 62, a lawyer and a former presidential candidate, as the parliament's president.

In parliament's first session following last month's national elections, Rosenkranz was elected with 100 out of 162 valid votes that were cast, current parliament president Wolfgang Sobotka said.

Rosenkranz, who has been widely criticized for being a member of a far-right student fraternity known for its strident pan-German nationalism, was elected in a secret ballot.

In a debate before the vote, conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer -- who hopes to head another government -- said his party was "committed to the customs and traditions" of parliament of the strongest party nominating the president.

FPOe leader Herbert Kickl praised Rosenkranz for his "loyalty to democracy, the constitution and the rule of law".

Ahead of the vote, Oskar Deutsch, president of IKG that represents Vienna's Jewish community, expressed his indignation in an open letter to parliament members, describing Rosenkranz as someone from the "revisionist camp", who "pays outright homage to Nazi criminals".

King Charles sips narcotic kava drink, becomes Samoan 'high chief'

Agence France-Presse
October 24, 2024 

Britain's King Charles III drinks kava as Queen Camilla looks on during a ceremony in Samoa (AFP)

King Charles III took part in a traditional kava-drinking ceremony before a line of bare-chested, heavily tattooed Samoans and was declared a "high chief" of his Pacific island realm on Thursday.

The British monarch is on an 11-day tour of Australia and Samoa, independent nations where he is still head of state -- the first major foreign trip since his cancer diagnosis earlier this year.

Wearing a white safari-style suit, the 75-year-old king sat at the head of a carved timber longhouse where he was presented with a polished half-coconut filled with a mildly narcotic kava brew.

The peppery, slightly intoxicating root drink is a key part of Pacific culture and is known locally as "ava".

The kava roots were paraded around the marquee, prepared by the chief's daughter and filtered through a sieve made of the dried bark of a fau tree.

Once ready, a Samoan man screamed as he decanted the drink, which was finally presented to the king.

Charles uttered the words: "May God Bless this ava" before lifting it to his lips. The ceremony concluded with claps.

Charles's wife, Queen Camilla sat beside him, fanning herself to ease the stiffing tropical humidity.

- High Chief -


Many Samoans are excited to host the king -- his first-ever visit to the Pacific Island nation that was once a British colony.

The royal couple later visited the village of Moata'a where Charles was made "Tui Taumeasina" or high chief.

According to local legend, the area around Moata'a is where the coconut originated.


"Everyone has taken to our heart and is looking forward to welcoming the king," local chief Lenatai Victor Tamapua told AFP ahead of the visit.

"We feel honoured that he has chosen to be welcomed here in our village. So as a gift, we would like to bestow him a title."

Tamapua also planned to raise the issue of climate change with the king and queen and show them the local mangroves.


"The high tides is just chewing away on our reef and where the mangroves are," he told AFP, adding that food sources and communities were being washed away or inundated.

"Our community relies on the mangrove area for mud crab and fishes, but since, the tide has risen over the past 20 years by about two or three meters (up to 10 feet)."

The king is also in Samoa for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which is taking place in Apia.


- Colonialism and climate -

The legacy of empire looms large at the meeting.

Commonwealth leaders will select a new secretary-general nominated from an African country –- in line with regional rotations of the position.


All three likely candidates have called publicly for reparations for slavery and colonialism.

One of the three, Joshua Setipa from Lesotho, told AFP that the resolution could include non-traditional forms of payment such as climate financing.

"We can find a solution that will begin to address some injustices of the past and put them in the context happening around us today," he said.


Climate change features heavily on the agenda.

Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Fiji have backed calls for a "fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty" -- essentially calling for Australia, Britain and Canada to do more to lower emissions.

Pacific leaders argue the trio of "big countries" have historically accounted for over 60 percent of the Commonwealth's emissions from fossil fuels.


Vanuatu's special envoy for climate change Ralph Regenvanu called on other nations to join the treaty.

"As a Commonwealth family, we look to those that dominate fossil fuel production in the Commonwealth to stop the expansion of fossil fuels in order to protect what we love and hold dear here in the Pacific," he said.

Australia's foreign minister Penny Wong said her gas and mineral-rich nation was working to be cleaner.


"We know we have a lot of work to do, and I've been upfront with every partner in the Pacific," she said.

Pacific island nations -- once seen as the embodiment of palm-fringed paradise -- are now among the most climate-threatened areas of the planet.

Montana Republican stands by racism ahead of historic Biden apology to Native Americans

Matt Laslo
October 24, 2024

(Photo courtesy of Tim Sheehy's campaign website)

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WASHINGTON — This week, President Joe Biden is doing something Montana Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy has refused to do: Apologize to Native Americans.

Since September, Sheehy has rebuffed calls from tribal leaders and his Senate opponent, Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), to apologize after recordings surfaced of him deriding Native Americans for the substance abuse issues that have plagued Indian Country for decades, including laughing them off as “drunk at 8 a.m.”

Sheehy’s response has included the veteran telling Tester in a Senate debate that “insensitive jokes” are part of military culture. That stands in stark contrast to the formal apology Biden is set to deliver Friday to the tens of thousands of Native American families impacted by the United States’ Indian boarding school policies from 1819 through the 1970s.

In an exclusive interview with Raw Story ahead of Biden’s Friday announcement in Arizona, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland gushed over the president’s formal apology.

“Oh my gosh, I never thought I would see this in my lifetime,” Haaland told Raw Story. “Decades ago, when I was sitting at my grandmother's kitchen table and talking to her about boarding schools, you know, she didn't tell me everything, right? I knew there was more to what she was telling me.”

As an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna, Haaland is the first Native American in American history to serve as a cabinet secretary. For her, it’s personal. That’s partly why she launched the administration’s Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative in 2021, which is culminating with this formal apology to Indigenous communities on behalf of the United States of America.

The former New Mexico Democratic congresswoman’s grandma was sent to a Catholic boarding school some 125 miles away from her home, but “it could have been 1,000 miles because her dad only had a horse and wagon.”

“She told me he was able to only visit her twice during the five years she was there. Her time there, her dad's time at boarding school, that affected my life, and I didn't realize how much it affected my life right until I got a little bit older,” Haaland said. “So this is important.”

Over in Montana, the lack of an apology is also thundering across Indian Country.

“...there’s Coors Light cans flying by your head…”

In September, audio of Sheehy mocking Native Americans was uncovered by Char-Koosta News — “the official news publication of the Flathead Indian Reservation” — and no matter how many Montana tribal elders have demanded an apology, he’s refused.

“Great way to bond with all the Indians, to be out there while they’re drunk at 8 a.m.,” Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, says on one recording.

Sheehy is also heard insulting a historic parade at Montana’s annual Crow Fair, a 105-year-old celebration near the Little Big Horn River.

“If you know a tough crowd, you want to go to the Crow res,” Sheehy, a businessman, says on another recording. “They let you know whether they like you or not — there’s Coors Light cans flying by your head riding by.”

When Raw Story asked the Interior secretary about demeaning tropes like the ones the businessman — who’s been accused of siphoning $160 million from Montana taxpayers — has acknowledged perpetuating, Haaland said political aspirants like Sheehy need to study up on Native American history.

“All I can say is that I hope that people who say things like that will educate themselves, because if they're running for office, they need to be educated so that they can be effective leaders for their constituents,” Haaland said.

Across Montana there are 12 tribes and seven reservations, and the state’s nearly 70,000 Native Americans make up almost 7% of the state’s population. That makes them a crucial voting block in the state’s all-important U.S. Senate contest — a race that could tilt control of the Senate back to Republicans if the incumbent, Tester, loses.

Still, Sheehy refuses to apologize — and his campaign didn’t return Raw Story’s request for comment on this piece — which Haaland says is personally painful to Native Americans.

“I know that there will always be a certain amount of ignorance out there with respect to tribal nations. When people say really offensive things like that, they lack a knowledge of the history of our people. Our history is complicated. It's complex. It has many different eras,” Haaland said. “We went through eras of genocide, and we went through eras of land stealing and then assimilation policies. We have lived through so much.”

“It is a big deal”

Raw Story never mentioned Sheehy by name to the Interior secretary because federal officials like Haaland are prohibited from campaigning by the Hatch Act. When we specifically mentioned Tester, the secretary gently rebuffed us.

“I can't ask you about politics, but what has Sen. Tester — as a former chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee — what has he meant to Indian Country?” Raw Story asked.

“Would you like to ask a different question? Because I can’t speak for him,” Haaland said.

This is an election year and the president’s issuing the formal apology on behalf of the United States in the battleground state of Arizona, which smells of politics to critics.

But Haaland says there’s nothing political about the timing.

“No. I mean, they can say what they want. The president's apology is real and it's heartfelt and it's meaningful, and it will mean something to the people there. It will mean something to anyone who listens to it,” Haaland said. “It's a wonderful day to be indigenous, and I'm really proud to be by the president's side for this most important day.”

Knowing Native Americans like herself are far from monolithic, Haaland’s hoping enrolled members of tribes across Indian Country feel the sincerity of this long overdue presidential apology — one she was pivotal in bringing about.

“I hope they feel seen. I hope they feel heard by the president of the United States,” Haaland told Raw Story. “It is a big deal.”

Matt Laslo has covered Congress since 2006, bringing Raw Story readers the personalities behind the politics and policy straight from Capitol Hill. Based in Washington, D.C., Matt has been a long-time contributor to NPR, WIRED, VICE News, The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, and Playboy. More about Matt Laslo.

Republican candidate's Navy records differ from his claims about discharge: report

Sarah K. Burris
October 24, 2024 

Montana Republican Senate candidate and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy's record of military service is once again facing scrutiny.

In the latest iteration, NBC News revealed that while Sheehy claimed he was discharged for medical reasons after injuries while he was on duty, documents show something different.

A heavily redacted document obtained by NBC reveals Sheehy resigned voluntarily. A medical condition that "forced him out of uniform" wasn't listed. The report says that a former U.S. official familiar with the details of Sheehy's "separation" confirmed the information.

Read also: Montana Republican stands by racism ahead of historic Biden apology to Native Americans

According to his book, Sheehy claimed he was riding in a mini-submarine during a training exercise in Hawaii and got "the bends," a decompression sickness caused when a diver ascends too quickly. Nitrogen can build up bubbles in the blood and tissue. Sheehy's book says the incident left a "tiny hole in my heart.”

“There would be a period of recovery and evaluation, I was told, before I could return to active duty,” he says in the book.

When NBC requested a comment from the campaign, a spokesperson had a different take.

“Tim Sheehy was honorably discharged from the Navy after being declared medically unfit to continue to serve as a Navy SEAL in 2014. After Tim left active duty in 2014, he was then in the Navy Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) until his honorable discharge in 2019.”

The campaign refused to respond to the discrepancy between what Sheehy said publicly and what his documents show.

This isn't the first time Sheehy's service record has faced swirling questions. He also said that he was shot while serving in combat in Afghanistan. A report in April revealed Sheehy told officials that he shot himself in the arm three years later when he accidentally discharged a firearm in Montana's Glacier National Park. He claimed that it was a story he made up, a "lie" to the newspaper, "To protect himself and his former platoonmates from facing a potential military investigation into an old bullet wound."

Official paperwork to a law enforcement officer gives extensive details, seemingly confirming that he accidentally shot himself in 2015 when his Colt .45 revolver fell and discharged in the national park. A park ranger has also come out to fact-check the Republican candidate.

Sheehy faces off against U.S. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT).

Read the full report here.