An Australian citizen, now imprisoned in the United Kingdom, is wanted by the United States to face charges which could incarcerate him for up to 175 years! What did Julian Assange, 52, do to attract such extraordinary attention? What is his sin? Does it amount to crime of the unpardonable kind? Ostensibly, his sin was to make public well-sourced information on matters of public concern — relating to the US-led wars on Iraq and Afghanistan, among others. His so
March 20: A former Australian SAS soldier has been charged with murder, following an investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.
Oliver Schulz, 41, is the first Australian serviceman or veteran to be charged with a war crime under Australian law.
ISLAMABAD: A group of independent experts at the United Nations has warned that Taliban restrictions on women’s rights and freedoms in Afghanistan could amount to a “crime against humanity.” The experts demanded in a joint statement Friday that the Taliban treatment of women and girls “should be investigated as gender persecution” under international law. Taliban […]
What are the midterms and who's being elected?
These elections are for Congress, which is made up of two parts - the House of Representatives and the Senate.
These votes are held every two years and when they fall in the middle of the president's four-year term of office, they are called the midterms.
Congress makes nationwide laws. The House decides which laws are voted on while the Senate can block or approve them, confirm appointments made by the president and, more rarely, conduct any investigations against him.
Each state has two senators, who sit for six-year terms. Representatives serve for two years, and represent smaller districts.
All the seats in the House of Representatives are up for election in November, alongside one-third of the Senate.
Several major states also have elections for their governor and local officials.
Who might win?
The Democratic Party has held the majority in both the House and the Senate for the past two years. That's been helpful for President Joe Biden to pass the laws he wanted.
But the Democrats hold that power over the Republicans by very narrow margins, which makes for a tight contest. Polling suggests the Republicans might take the House but the Democrats could hold on to the Senate.
Of the 435 seats in the House, most are safely held by either party, with just 30 currently a toss-up between the two. Suburban areas around cities in states like Pennsylvania, California, Ohio and North Carolina will be key.
In the Senate, it now looks like four of the 35 seats being contested realistically could go either way. The pivotal races here are in Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania.
What are the big issues?
At the start of 2022, it looked like the biggest issues were going to be immigration, crime and the cost of living, which are vote-winners for conservative Republicans.
That changed in June when the US Supreme Court overturned national abortion protections, giving a boost to the Democrats, who support women having the right to choose and have made that central to many campaigns.
But as the immediate impact of that decision fades, Republicans are trying to turn the focus back to inflation, immigration and violent crime.
What effect will the results have?
Midterms often serve as a verdict on how the president is doing, and the party that holds the White House tends to lose seats.
That's a worry for President Biden, whose approval rating among voters has been running at less than 50% since last August.
If the Democrats hang on, President Biden will be able to keep going with his plans on climate change, to expand government-run healthcare programmes, protect abortion rights and tighten gun control.
If the Republicans take control of either chamber, they will be able to effectively grind that agenda to a halt.
They will also be able to control investigatory committees, so they could end the inquiry into the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump - although its work is set to finish by the end of the year.
They might also launch new investigations into more conservative-interest topics - like the Chinese business dealings of Joe Biden's son or the sudden withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.
It would be harder for Mr Biden to make new appointments, including to the US Supreme Court. Republican dominance would also hamper his foreign policy - particularly help for Ukraine, as it battles Russian invasion.
In return, President Biden could wield his veto pen and block conservative laws on abortion, immigration and taxes.
The result? Gridlock until the next presidential and congressional elections.
How does this shape the 2024 presidential race?
The midterms could give us a clue as to who might be in the running to be the Republican presidential candidate for 2024.
If candidates backed by Mr Trump do badly, he's less likely to get backing from the Republican party to run for president again. In Florida and Texas, Republican governors Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott hope re-election will spur them on to a bid for the White House.
If the Democrats can hold on to power in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, that should give them some confidence as they build their 2024 campaign to get President Biden re-elected. (With inputs from BBC)
March 2: In a primetime speech, Mr Biden vowed "an unwavering resolve that freedom will always triumph over tyranny".
Democrats and Republicans reacted to Mr Biden's appeal to show support for Ukraine by rising in unison to applaud.
His State of the Union address came as pandemic-weary Americans grapple with galloping inflation.
In an hour-long address to lawmakers on Tuesday night, the Democratic president said: "Putin's war was premeditated and unprovoked. He rejected repeated efforts at diplomacy.
"He thought the West and Nato wouldn't respond. And he thought he could divide us here at home."
Mr Biden - whose chaotic withdrawal last year from Afghanistan damaged his popularity among Americans - added: "Putin was wrong. We were ready."
He announced that the US would ban Russian aircraft from American airspace, following similar bans by Canadian and European authorities.
The US and it allies have launched a barrage of sanctions against Russia's economy and financial system and Mr Putin himself. In his speech Mr Biden deviated from his prepared remarks by vowing further economic retaliation, warning Mr Putin: "He has no idea what's coming."
The US president also welcomed Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova, who received a standing ovation as she sat in US First Lady Jill Biden's VIP box.
Hours before his address, Mr Biden spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss what help the US could give his country after six days of the Russian assault.
"Let each of us... stand and send an unmistakable signal to Ukraine and to the world," Mr Biden told his audience in the chamber of the House of Representatives.
It was one of the few moments in the speech where members of both deeply polarised parties rose together to clap and cheer for Ukraine, many of them waving Ukrainian flags that had been passed out before the president arrived.
Mr Biden's first formal State of the Union speech, an annual event pushing a president's agenda, came as his approval rating languishes.
Just 40.6% of Americans are happy with his job performance, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.
After addressing his biggest foreign policy crisis, the invasion of Ukraine, Mr Biden confronted a host of domestic troubles dogging his presidency, from the enduring pandemic, to soaring consumer prices, to a wave of violent crime.
Although the US jobless rate has sunk to 4%, inflation has hit a 40-year high.
The president sought on Tuesday night to empathise with hard-pressed working families, saying: "I get it."
He promised a plan for "building a better America".
Mr Biden argued the best way to counter rocketing consumer prices was to boost domestic production of cars and semiconductors and rebuild the nation's roads and bridges.
Opinion polls show Americans are also unhappy with Mr Biden's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
But on Tuesday, members of Congress who attended the speech were not required to wear masks for the first time in months.
Mr Biden said: "Last year Covid-19 kept us apart. This year we are finally together again."
More than 2,000 Americans are still dying daily of Covid, according to the latest figures, the highest official tally of any country in the world.
With the nation's homicide rate having hit a 25-year high, Mr Biden rejected calls to defund the police that were taken up by a wide spectrum of his fellow Democrats.
"The answer is not to defund the police," said the president. "The answer is to fund them."
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds delivered the Republican response to Mr Biden's speech.
She sought to portray a presidency that had sent America back to the late '70s "when runaway inflation was hammering families, a violent crime wave was crashing on our cities, and the Soviet army was trying to redraw the world map".
KATHMANDU, Aug 16: The central committee (CC) meeting of the ruling CPN (Maoist Centre) has passed the political and statute amendment proposals tabled by Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’.
The meeting that concluded on Sunday with the endorsement of the proposals as the preparations of the party’s general convention, decided to dissolve all the district committees of the party by converting them into the coordination committees. The district coordination committee will be active to coordinate between the local and province committees.
As per the new organizational structures, there will be a central committee, provinces will have province committee and local committees in the local levels.
The party has stated that it has transformed its party organization structures in line with the constitution and federal set up.
With this new provision, 20 per cent youth and 35 per cent women representation in the central committee is ensured.
Similarly, 15 per cent Dalit’s participation would be ensured in the central committee.
According to party spokesperson, Narayan KajiShrestha, all sides’ representation was ensured as the preparatory step for socialist revolution.
The meeting has decided to make the current political alliance fully successful to safeguard the constitution and fight against the regressive action and to continue it until the upcoming election. The meeting has also decided to make the incumbent government successful and remain alert against the regressive activities.
Earlier, the partydecided to hold its national convention from December 26 to 28. The meeting had formed eight groups to give suggestions on Chairman Prachanda’s proposals.
Chairman Dahal while concluding the meeting extended thanks to all leaders who came with revolutionary visions to transform the party. He also asked support from all sides to lead the party with effective visions and structures.
The central committee meeting has passed a six-point proposal on contemporary issues. The CPN (Maoist Centre) has asked the government to hold diplomatic talks with the Government of India in regard to Jaya Singh Dhami, one who went missing after falling off Tuin in the Mahakali river as Indian SSB personnel cut off the rope, and book the culprits and provide compensation to the victim's family.
The Maoist party has called the incident a crime against humanity.
Similarly, the party has expressed its solidarity to the agitation staged by ex-British Gurkha Army personnel in the UK putting forth their demands and has asked the British Government to resolve the issue through talks, Spokesperson Shrestha said.
Furthermore, the party has asked the government to unveil programmes for economic recovery and ensure COVID-19 vaccines to all the citizens at the earliest possible time adding that the third wave of the pandemic is likely.
The party has also urged the entire party rank and file to contribute to the nation in the fight against COVID-19.
Likewise, the party has urged the government to take initiative in rescue, relief and reconstruction in regard to the damages caused by the flood and landslides.
Shrestha said that the party has asked the government to take needed steps to safeguard the lives of Nepalis in Afghanistan.
