Nachrichtenagentur Radio Utopie
Nachrichten direkt von der Quelle. Im Kontext sehen. News directly from the source. There is context in life. Deutsch, English. 24 h. – Democracy First!
Writing for The Independent, Roger Mosey said Mr Sharp’s position appeared to be untenable – warning that there was an “ever-stronger sense that the end credits are about to roll” on his tenure.
Mr Sharp has been under growing pressure since a cross-party group MPs found that he had made “significant errors of judgment” by acting as a go-between for an £800,000 loan guarantee for Boris Johnson.
The High Court’s bombshell decision on Wednesday barred the Shas party chair from serving in the cabinet following his criminal conviction on tax evasion charges last year and subsequent suspended sentence.
In a letter read by Netanyahu at the cabinet meeting, he expressed regret over the decision and described Dery as an „anchor of experience, intelligence and responsibility.“
Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai met on Wednesday with former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon, former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, and attorney Eliad Shraga, chairman of The Movement for Quality Government, in light of the protest against planned judicial reforms in Israel and ahead of the Saturday demonstration in Tel Aviv.
(27 August 2022)
Lockdown – closing schools and much of the economy while sending the police after people who sat on park benches – was the most draconian policy introduced in peacetime. No. 10 wanted to present it as ‘following the science’ rather than a political decision, and this had implications for the wiring of government decision-making. It meant elevating Sage, a sprawling group of scientific advisers, into a committee that had the power to decide whether the country would lock down or not. There was no socioeconomic equivalent to Sage; no forum where other questions would be asked.
So whoever wrote the minutes for the Sage meetings – condensing its discussions into guidance for government – would set the policy of the nation. No one, not even cabinet members, would know how these decisions were reached.
(25.08.2022)
For some time, I’ve been trying to persuade Rishi Sunak to go on the record about what really happened in lockdown. Only a handful of people really know what took place then, because most ministers – including members of the Cabinet – were kept in the dark. Government was often reduced to a “quad” of ministers deciding on Britain’s future and the then chancellor of the exchequer was one of them. I’d heard rumours that Sunak was horrified at much of what he saw, but was keeping quiet. In which case, lessons would never be learnt.
His speaking out now confirms much of what many suspected. That the culture of fear, seen in the Orwellian advertising campaign that sought to terrify the country, applied inside Government.
– Rishi Sunak, who launched his bid yesterday morning, has received public backing of more than 150 Tory MPs
– As of last night, 155 MPs said they are backing Mr Sunak, while 25 had spoken out in support of Ms Mordaunt
– A further 54 who were hoping Mr Johnson would return are yet to publicly reveal to whom they will now back
– Mr Johnson earlier said he had in fact reached the ‚very high hurdle of 102 nominations‘ as he bowed out
– Ms Mordaunt’s team, though, believe his decision to pull himself from the race will ‚propel her over the line‘
I set out four scenarios of how this might unfold in The Spectator earlier this month. There are two that MPs have most recently got in touch about: Rishi by Christmas or the Boris restoration.
A week is a long time in politics – and next week could be one of the most dramatic yet.
“It is a decision well taken,” said APPO secretary-general Dr Omar Farouk Ibrahim. “I believe it is the right thing to do to save the industry and also to ensure that there is stability for today and tomorrow.”
The decision by OPEC, which includes major oil producers Russia and Saudi Arabia, as well as African countries and APPO members Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Congo and Libya, saw the price of Brent crude oil rise 1.5% to more than $93 a barrel.
“I am sure that under your leadership the deep friendship between Britain and Israel will be further strengthened in all fields,” tweets Netanyahu.
The former prime minister also adds his thanks to outgoing PM Boris Johnson “for his valued contributions to the excellent relations between our two countries.”
Follow updates here as the next Prime Minister is revealed as the winner of the Tory leadership contest is announced at Westminster’s Queen Elizabeth II Centre:
The latest polling by Opinium for the Observer shows that whereas 49% of people who voted Tory in 2019 had believed Truss “looks like a prime minister in waiting” at the beginning of August, this had dropped to just 31% by 30 August.
Similarly while 55% said she was competent at the start of August, this had dropped to 35% among 2019 Tory voters by the end of the month. And while 52% of the same voters thought she was likeable at the start of August, only 31% felt that way by the end of the month.
Conservative MPs have warned Liz Truss not to lurch the government to the right if, as expected, she triumphs over her rival Rishi Sunak and becomes prime minister next week.
Tory MPs cautioned that the new Conservative leader must not abandon the centre ground or surround herself with an inner circle of right-wing allies now that a general election is looming.
If you are a right-wing MP or ambitious wonk on the Truss campaign ‘pivot’ is such a useful word. Far better to say ‘we need to pivot from campaign mode to governing mode,’ than to blurt out that ‘now we have their votes we can forget the lies we told to win over Conservative members’. Far better for Truss herself to say, ‘I am pivoting from my previous position on tax cuts’ to ‘I admit that I was wrong’.
Pivoting calls to mind the elegance of a ballerina turning on her points. Not the cynicism of a politician breaking promises she made only a few days before.
As it will take years for culpable parties to retire, I once feared that a full generation would need to elapse before we recognised lockdowns for what they were: the biggest public health debacle in history. Yet everywhere I turn lately, still another journalist is decrying the avoidable social, medical and economic costs of this hysterical over-reaction to a virus, while deriding lockdown zealots for having vilified sceptics of a policy that may well end up killing more people than it protected. The Covid revisionism is welcome – though it’s a good deal easier to publish these opinion pieces now than it was two years ago, and I speak from experience.
(27 August 2022)
Lockdown – closing schools and much of the economy while sending the police after people who sat on park benches – was the most draconian policy introduced in peacetime. No. 10 wanted to present it as ‘following the science’ rather than a political decision, and this had implications for the wiring of government decision-making. It meant elevating Sage, a sprawling group of scientific advisers, into a committee that had the power to decide whether the country would lock down or not. There was no socioeconomic equivalent to Sage; no forum where other questions would be asked.
So whoever wrote the minutes for the Sage meetings – condensing its discussions into guidance for government – would set the policy of the nation. No one, not even cabinet members, would know how these decisions were reached.
The meetings were “literally me around that table, just fighting”, which “was incredibly uncomfortable every single time”.
At one meeting he raised the impact on children’s education: “I was very emotional about it. I was like, ‘Forget about the economy. Surely we can all agree that kids not being in school is a major nightmare’, or something like that.
“There was a big silence afterwards. It was the first time someone had said it. I was so furious.”
Setting out the problems he found with Government policy being influenced by outside academics, he said: “If you empower all these independent people, you’re screwed.”
Mr Sunak said one of the Government’s biggest mistakes was giving too much power to scientists and claimed the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) edited its minutes to hide dissenting opinions.
The former chancellor made the statements in an interview with the Spectator magazine.
“We shouldn’t have empowered the scientists in the way we did,” he is quoted as saying.
01-08-2022 – 11:45
The next COVI Committee meetings will take place on Tuesday 30 August 2022 from 15:30 to 18:30 and Monday 5 September 2022 from 15:00 to 18:30 in Brussels.
Rishi Sunak joins Liz Truss in suggesting he would be open to relocating Britain’s diplomats from Tel Aviv
My comments were widely interpreted to be anti-aspirational and it was suggested that I was seeking revenge against the man who, while Chancellor, had been planning a coup for a very long time and who had ruthlessly and metaphorically stabbed Boris Johnson in the back.
Rishi had been plotting against the most electorally successful Prime Minister the Conservative Party has known since the days of Margaret Thatcher. His actions made Michael Gove’s betrayal of Boris Johnson during the 2016 leadership campaign appear like a rank amateur rehearsing for the role of Brutus in a village hall play.
(…)
I wanted to highlight Rishi’s misguided sartorial style in order to alert Tory members not to be taken in by appearances in the way that happened to many of us who served with the Chancellor in Cabinet. The assassin’s gleaming smile, his gentle voice and even his diminutive stature had many of us well and truly fooled.
MP Greg Hands has branded ‘dangerous’ a retweet by culture secretary Nadine Dorries, showing Rishi Sunak stabbing Boris Johnson in the back.
To make an impression on the race, Sunak announced last night plans to charge patients £10 for a missed medical appointment to help clear the Covid backlog. He said he would revive high streets, slash the number of empty shops and backed tougher punishment for graffiti and littering, as well as additional powers for police to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Tory MPs have now voted five times to narrow the field of their leadership race down to just two candidates. Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss will go head-to-head, and the winner will replace Boris Johnson as prime minister.
Unlike the previous rounds, however, this one has a broader electorate: Tory members will get to vote on which of the pair becomes party leader.
It will be a battle of ideology, policy and personality – with Mr Sunak, the prudent, centrist, polished public schoolboy against Ms Truss, the tax-cutting, Right-wing, robotic Yorkshire lass.
– Conservative MPs have chosen the final two candidates for PM going ahead to a run-off with party members
– Liz Truss emerged victorious from a brutal battle with Penny Mordaunt for second spot in head-to-head phase
– Rishi Sunak topped the ballot in all the voting rounds but polls suggest he could struggle in the member vote
– The candidates are due to clash in a BBC TV debate on Monday night with fears it will turn nasty quickly
– The winner of the ballot is due to be declared on September 5 and take over from Mr Johnson the next day
Truss has pledged to raise defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP by 2030, while Sunak would keep it on its present path, rising to 2.5 per cent over the same period. Although the former chancellor gave the Ministry of Defence special treatment in his spending review, he shares the Treasury’s scepticism about getting value for money from it.
While the Truss camp suggests Sunak would be less supportive of Ukraine amid fears of the impact on the UK of sanctions against Russia, in practice they would probably adopt the same approach. However, Truss would probably be more hawkish than him towards China.
The run-off scores from our latest Next Tory Leader survey for all five candidates are as follows –
Sky News has cancelled its Conservative leadership debate after Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss refused to take part.
The debate was due to be hosted by Kay Burley tomorrow evening.
Conservative MPs are said to be concerned about the damage the debates are doing to the image of the party, exposing disagreements and splits.
His comments came despite Ms Truss being seen as the „Boris Johnson continuity candidate“ with a number of his supporters backing her in a bid to stop Mr Suank entering No10.
Her attack on the former Chancellor’s record last night was one of a number of punches swung as the Tory leadership contest gets increasingly bitter.
Second, the government would also remove the burdens of GDPR, creating in its place the most dynamic data protection regime in the world.
The EU’s Byzantine rules are preventing British tech companies from innovating and public services from sharing data to prevent crime. As any internet user can see, GDPR – with all its bureaucratic box-ticking – is clearly not working and needs to be replaced.
(video)
As things stand, Rishi Sunak is leading the way on MP nominations, but needs to win over Tory members to succeed in the final stage of the contest. Meanwhile Penny Mordaunt is the clear favourite with the bookies thanks to recent polling which suggests she is Tory members’ candidate of choice.
(today)
Lord Cruddas, who was last year forced to defend donating £500,000 to the party just three days after he was admitted to the House of Lords, said he wanted Boris Johnson to stay on as Prime Minister.
He said: “If the membership are asked to vote for the last two contenders they will be voting for two people that they do not want on the ballot. The ballot only has credibility if Boris is part of the process.”
Tories are braced for more blood on the carpet today as another hopeful is knocked out of the leadership race – with Liz Truss allies begging rivals to recognise the ‚reality‘ they cannot win.
The results are due to be revealed at 3pm after another frenzied day at Westminster that saw the Foreign Secretary officially launch her campaign insisting she can be ‚trusted to deliver‘ after taking on the EU over Brexit and Vladimir Putin over Ukraine.
In a dig at frontrunner Rishi Sunak she said she had been ‚loyal‘ to Boris Johnson, and it was not the time for ‚business as usual economic management‘.
TUESDAY July 19 – FRIDAY July 22
– Knockout ballots will happen daily until just two candidates are left standing.
FRIDAY July 22
– The final two candidates tour the country trying to win the votes of 100,000 or so ordinary party members who will decide the next PM.
MONDAY September 5
– The results of the vote is announced and Britain’s next PM is revealed
With only 14 public backers apiece, it is unsurprising Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi fell short of the 30 votes from MPs they needed.
The results, announced just now by Sir Graham Brady, leaves six candidates for MPs to vote on tomorrow. Rishi Sunak, as expected, is out in the lead with 88 votes, although is followed more closely expected by Penny Mordaunt, who has 67 backers.
I got into politics because I want everyone in this country to have the opportunity to be able to give their children a better future.
Our country faces huge challenges, the most serious for a generation. Someone has to grip this moment and make the right decisions. Because the choices we make today will decide whether the next generation of British people will have more opportunities than the last.
We need to restore trust in our politics. We need to rebuild our economy. And we need to reunite the country.
That’s why I’m standing to be the next leader of the Conservative Party and your Prime Minister.
Sunak: 30 MPs (+12)
Mordaunt: 18 (+11)
Hunt: 12 (+10)
Truss: 12 (+6)
Tugendhat: 12 (+6)
Badenoch: 11 (+5)
Zahawi: 10 (+7)
Braverman: 9 (-)
Chgs. w/ 24hrs ago
The memo circulated on Tory WhatsApp group reportedly attacks the former chancellor personally and accused him of having a “big tax and big spend agenda”.
According to The Telegraph, which first reported the “mucky memo”, the 424-word anti-Sunak missive was written by someone on the Thatcherite right of the party.
Jeremy Hunt, Sajid Javid, Grant Shapps and Mr Zahawi all promised to cut the tax burden on Sunday, while Mr Sunak has insisted it would be irresponsible to do so while the UK is still running a large budget deficit.
Ministers who are close to Mr Johnson have publicly denounced Mr Sunak’s track record and warned that he will reverse the achievements of the Government.
Jacob Rees-Mogg told Channel 4: “I will not be supporting Mr Sunak.” He has previously referred to him as “the socialist Chancellor” because of the pandemic spending he introduced.
Sign up 👉 ready4rishi.com
But he can, technically, be deposed as Tory leader and remain in office. He will not be removed from No 10 until he tenders his resignation as prime minister, or until he loses a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons (the last PM to lose such a vote was Labour’s Jim Callaghan in March 1979). Johnson will not, like Donald Trump, attempt to stay in power once the Tory party does select a new leader, but he has notably chosen not to tender his resignation as prime minister until it does.
– Boris Johnson makes 372-second resignation speech in Downing Street
– He confirms he will stand down as Prime Minister once new Tory leader elected
– He says he is ’sad‘ to be ‚giving up the best job in the world‘ and blasts rebel MPs
BORIS Johnson has today told the nation he is resigning as Prime Minister and clearing the stage for a new Tory leader by the autumn.
In an address outside No10, the defeated PM said he was so „sad“ to be forced out of the job he loves but conceded: „Them’s the breaks.“
Lord Hague, the former leader of the Conservative Party, said Mr Johnson is now facing a „big problem“ because it „isn’t viable actually when more than 40 per cent of your party vote against you“.
He told Times Radio: “That is very difficult then to proceed as party leader in the long term. This is like trying to drive along the M1 with two flat tyres. You can say you are at the steering wheel but is it really viable? You are not going to get to the end of the motorway.”
Remarks by António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, on Ukraine. to the Security Council during the 8974th meeting
– Rishi Sunak ‚thinks Boris Johnson won’t survive Partygate and has built a dummy campaign website‘
– The Chancellor is said to be preparing a leadership campaign in the event the Prime Minister is deposed
– Mr Johnson is fighting for his political life as he awaits results of inquiry into ‚Partygate‘ drama
– His wife Carrie Johnson is accused of organising a cake for Mr Johnson’s 56th birthday party in June 2020
– Miss Gray is said to be furious that Scotland Yard has asked for a redacted version of her report
– The Met Police asked for only ‚minimal references‘ to ‚parties‘ at centre of the row to be in document
Tom Tugendhat has become the first Tory MP to say he would run to replace Boris Johnson in a leadership contest.
It comes less than 24 hours after reports that the Prime Minister will receive imminently the report from Sue Gray into alleged breaches of Covid restrictions during ‘partygate’.
The next head of Israel’s Mossad espionage agency will be David Barnea, whose appointment was cleared for publication Monday following consultations among Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit and the outgoing Mossad chief, Yossi Cohen.
Yes, the statesmanlike one with the good looks and down-to-earth air, who has been seen washing floors and making coffee over a bonfire, all with a faux-bashful smile. He’s the person who has repeatedly prevented the country from returning to a path of sanity. This time he has relocated to the New Hope party, under the leadership of a new sucker called Gideon Sa’ar. But the ploy is the same ploy. This time too, one of the greatest obstacles to forming a government of change is Hendel’s refusal to form a coalition supported by the legitimate representatives of Israel’s Arab citizens.
Signatories in Support of the Statement of Concern:
José Bustani, Ambassador of Brazil, first Director General of the OPCW and former Ambassador to the United Kingdom and France.
Professor Noam Chomsky, Laureate Professor U. of Arizona and Institute Professor (em), MIT.
Andrew Cockburn, Washington editor, Harper’s Magazine.
Daniel Ellsberg, PERI Distinguished Research Fellow, UMass Amherst. Former Defense and State Department official. Former official of Defense Department (GS-18) and State Department (FSR-1).
Professor Richard Falk, Professor of International Law Emeritus, Princeton University.
Tulsi Gabbard, former Presidential candidate and Member of the US House of Representatives (2013-2021).
Professor Dr. Ulrich Gottstein, on behalf of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW-Germany).
Katharine Gun, former GCHQ (UKGOV), whistleblower.
Denis J. Halliday, UN Assistant Secretary-General (1994-98).
Professor Pervez Houdbhoy, Quaid-e-Azam University and ex Pugwash.
Kristinn Hrafnnson, Editor in Chief, Wikileaks.
Dr. Sabine Krüger, Analytical Chemist, Former OPCW Inspector 1997-2009.
Ray McGovern, ex-CIA Presidential Briefer; co-founder, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.
Elizabeth Murray, former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East, National Intelligence (rtd); member, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity and Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence.
Professor Götz Neuneck, Pugwash Council and German Pugwash Chair.
Dirk van Niekerk, former OPCW Inspection Team Leader, Head of OPCW Special Mission to Iraq
John Pilger, Emmy and Bafta winning journalist and film maker.
Professor Theodore A. Postol, Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology, and National Security Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr. Antonius Roof, former OPCW Inspection Team Leader and Head Industry Inspections.
Professor John Avery Scales, Professor, Pugwash Council and Danish Pugwash Chair.
Hans von Sponeck, former UN Assistant Secretary General and UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator (Iraq).
Alan Steadman, Chemical Weapons Munitions Specialist, Former OPCW Inspection Team Leader and UNSCOM Inspector.
Jonathan Steele, journalist and author.
Roger Waters, Musician and Activist.
Lord West of Spithead, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff 2002-06.
Oliver Stone, Film Director, Producer and Writer.
Colonel (ret.) Lawrence B. Wilkerson, U.S. Army, Visiting Professor at William and Mary College and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell.
The following points summarize key procedural and scientific flaws that have been identified and which are now in the public domain regarding the OPCW FFM Investigation of the Alleged Chemical Attack in Douma, April 7, 2018.
BORIS JOHNSON has come under scrutiny for how he has handled the coronavirus pandemic with some backbench MPs warning he must end the lockdown or face a party revolt.
Mr Laschet, premier of North Rhine-Westphalia state, defeated two rivals in the party’s virtual conference.
Preventing an Unhinged President From Using the Nuclear Codes: This morning, I spoke to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike. The situation of this unhinged President could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy.
It is hard to underestimate how close this country came to throwing away the 2016 referendum result. As deadline after deadline was missed, those who lost the referendum received more and more concessions. From European Court of Justice oversight to commitments to remain chained to the EU’s failed economic model – a virtual colony trapped within the Brussels regulatory orbit. On this side of the Channel, Brexiteers were confronted daily by the scheming of a thoroughly rotten Parliament abetted by a partisan speaker and activist legal establishment.
It is from this context that we must view today.
The incoming Biden administration has pledged to do even more to partner with allies on the China challenge.
In another step in that direction, on December 2, the foreign ministers of the NATO members, along with delegations from Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea, gathered virtually to discuss the rise of China and the implications for the global balance of power.
(29.10.2020)
Any decision to remove Feinstein from serving as chairwoman or ranking minority member in the 117th Congress, which convenes in January, would have to be approved by a vote of the entire Senate Democratic Caucus. And the support for such a move does not appear to be there.
For the European Central Bank, which is meeting Thursday to discuss monetary policy, the stronger euro is yet another headache. The bank’s Governing Council is not expected to make any changes to its stimulus program, which is already enormous.
The first phase will be on September 7-16. Voting on the next director-general is seen only as a last resort if consensus cannot be reached.
(03.08.2020)
Liam Fox, Britain’s former international trade secretary, was nominated by the UK to be the next head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to replace outgoing director general Brazilian Roberto Azevedo, who is stepping down on August 31.
(12.08.2020)
South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee, a candidate for the next head of the World Trade Organization (WTO), has accelerated her online campaign as the new coronavirus pandemic has limited face-to-face campaigning
(06.08.2020)
Neal is facing off against Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse on Sept. 1 in the Democratic primary, with Morse running hard to Neal’s left in another safe seat for Democrats. The liberal group Fight Corporate Monopolies, a new PAC formed after the end of the Sanders presidential campaign this year, has funded at least $300,000 in ads going after Neal for a history of financial support from corporate PACs.
Germany has decided that it wants to take advantage of the present sentiment towards Facebook and not let off. This week, Berlin called for more action at a meeting on Monday of the bloc’s justice ministers.
“We cannot accept the public debate being distorted and poisoned,” said German Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht. “Voluntary commitments and self-responsibility are not enough.”
(…)
Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell’s quick public support for Long-Bailey is one barometer of that strength of feeling, along with a parallel show of support from Momentum founder Jon Lansman, in spite of Lansman’s recent enthusiasm for an accommodation with the ‘soft left’.
But the action goes beyond expressions of support for Long-Bailey – and the drivers for action go beyond her sacking.
Left MPs are now generating a list of supporters for a leadership challenge to take place next year, after the 2021 local elections, in the event that Starmer fails to shape up.
Members of the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs, including John McDonnell and Richard Burgon, had been biding their time on the backbenches – sometimes making more strident criticisms of the government than Starmer’s, but remaining scrupulously loyal in public.
Now one of their own has been ruthlessly removed, they will feel emboldened to make their voices heard more loudly. McDonnell, who worked closely with Long-Bailey as shadow chancellor, said he stood in “absolute solidarity” with her.
“This official report directly contradicts the president’s false assertion that he attacked Iran to prevent an imminent attack against United States personnel and embassies,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.). “The administration’s explanation in this report makes no mention of any imminent threat and shows that the justification the president offered to the American people was false, plain and simple.”
A spokesman for the National Security Council said the White House had no further comment beyond the memo.
(03.09.2019)
“We concur with the advice of the DNC’s security experts that there is no tele-caucus system available that meets our standard of security and reliability given the scale needed for the Iowa and Nevada caucuses and the current cyber-security climate,” says Tom Perez, Lorraine Miller, and Jim Roosevelt, of the DNC Rules and By-Laws Committee, in a joint statement.
Angela Merkel’s grand transition plan has derailed after her handpicked successor, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, unexpectedly called it quits on Monday.
Kramp-Karrenbauer, better known as AKK, announced she would not stand as the Christian Democratic Union’s (CDU) candidate to be German chancellor in the next federal election. She is also stepping down as the party’s chairwoman, according to the CDU’s press office
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer plans to step down as leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, a spokesman for the party said in a statement on Monday. Kramp-Karrenbauer will also not seek to run as chancellor candidate for the CDU in the next election.
Results expected early Friday morning after a reported 49 percent of the party’s 116,048 members cast votes
“Politicians who continue to behave like politicos who try all day long to disband camps and to make deals in closed rooms won’t receive a mandate from the public. That’s the reason why the left was weakened in the past and those are the people who threaten to finish it off.” She went on to say, “Our public deserves to decide in a quick and open primary who will represent it in the Knesset. We established the Democratic Camp and we deserve a democratic leadership like that all over the world.”
„Whoever heads the executive branch cannot say that Mendelblit’s decision is an attempt of a legal coup. That’s not right, it’s not responsible,“ said Sa’ar in an interview with Channel 12 News.
„It’s not fixing the system, it’s smashing the system,“ he continued. „It is impossible to talk about the attorney general’s decision as a coup, we are creating an atmosphere of chaos in the country, and that I oppose,“ Sa’ar added.
Alluding to Netanyahu’s role in the right-wing campaign against former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in the run-up to his assassination, he said: „Someone who spearheaded the harsh and painful campaign against Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of blessed memory, which ended in a national disaster, should know that dangerous words are doomed to turn into deadly bullets.“ He added that „a true patriot“ would not „hold Israeli citizens hostage to his legal battle.“
Senior Likud member Gideon Sa’ar has called for a Likud leadership primary, criticizing Benjamin Netanyahu’s attack on Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit and the claim that the decision to indict the prime minister on corruption charges is „an attempted coup.“
„Whoever heads the executive branch can’t say that Mendelblit’s decision is an attempt of a legal coup. That’s not right, it’s not responsible,“ Sa’ar, seen as Netanyahu’s main rival in the party, told Channel 12 News on Saturday.
Three members of „The Squad“ — Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) — serve on the Oversight panel. The fourth, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), does not but she called Raskin one of her „favorite“ colleagues and said she could back him for chairman.
Raskin “would be a true leader when it comes to holding this Trump administration accountable and especially a leader on this impeachment inquiry,” Tlaib told The Hill in a brief interview before stepping into a closed-door impeachment hearing.
Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver abandons the chair while presiding in the House of Representatives over dysfunction among Democrats and Republicans.
“We don’t ever, ever, want to pass up an opportunity, it seems, to escalate. And that’s what this is,” he added, referring to Republicans‘ motion to strike Pelosi’s remarks. “I dare anybody to look at any of the footage and see if there was any unfairness, but unfairness is not enough because we want to just fight.”
Cleaver’s decision to abandon the chair appeared unprecedented, at least in recent history.
Trump said on Twitter that Milley, currently the Army chief of staff, would take over as the top U.S. military commander from Marine General Joseph Dunford at a date to be determined.
Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers‘ Party of Korea, ordered to promote the military ranks of commanding officers of the Korean People’s Army on Saturday on the occasion of the 70th founding anniversary of the DPRK.