Last week’s elections produced winners, losers and candidates like Kari Lake.
The Associated Press has already called the Arizona governor’s race for Democrat Katie Hobbs, but her Republican challenger Lake is refusing to concede. She said as much in a video released to supporters today:
Continue reading...The slim majority effectively hands great power to every member of the party, possibly stymying any legislation
Republicans have won back control of the House of Representatives scraping a victory from a midterms election that many had expected to be a red wave of wins but which instead turned into more of a trickle.
Nevertheless, the party finally won its crucial 218th seat in the lower chamber of Congress, wresting away control from the Democrats and setting the stage for a showdown with Joe Biden in the next two years of his presidency.
Continue reading...Apparent rapprochement with western leaders does not mean China is about to ditch its ‘wolf-warrior’ diplomacy
Fresh from consolidating power with a third term at home, Xi Jinping struck a largely cordial tone at the G20 summit in Indonesia, but don’t expect a change in China’s often aggressive “wolf-warrior” diplomacy.
While laying down a hard line on Taiwan, the Chinese president’s three-hour meeting with Joe Biden was described by the US president as “candid and clear” on subjects ranging from Taiwan to trade. After China accused the US of breaching the “One China” policy in its pledge to protect Taiwan, Biden reassured Xi that the US remained committed to the policy and “a new cold war” could be avoided.
Continue reading...Twice-impeached ex-president makes expected election announcement despite shaky midterms and surge from rival Ron DeSantis
Donald Trump on Tuesday night announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, likely sparking another period of tumult in US politics and especially his own political party.
“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump said from ballroom of his private Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he stood on a stage crowded with American flags and Make America Great Again banners.
Continue reading...US president says trajectory of missile suggests it was not launched by Russian forces waging war in Ukraine but will await results of investigation
Joe Biden has said the missile that landed in Poland, killing two people, was unlikely to have been fired from Russia due to its trajectory.
The US president was speaking at the G20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia, after convening an emergency meeting of western leaders to discuss the explosion on Nato territory that has the potential to take the war in Ukraine into a new even more dangerous dimension.
Continue reading...World leaders meet in Bali with a packed agenda of events, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens to overshadow the summit
Britain has announced it will spend $4.9bn on five new Navy ships to bolster security “in the face of increased Russian threats”.
The announcement came with prime minister Rishi Sunak set to begin his first full day of official events at the G20 summit in Bali.
Russia’s actions put all of us at risk. As we give the Ukrainian people the support they need, we are also harnessing the breadth and depth of UK expertise to protect ourselves and our allies. This includes building the next generation of British warships.
This week’s travel has brought together the broadest possible coalition of partners to confront this moment of great global challenges — from global inflation, to the climate crisis, to Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine.
At the G20 meetings, we’ll speak on the very issues that matter to people’s lives, not only at home but around the world. This forum is crucial for the world’s largest economies to work together for the good of people everywhere, and I’m looking forward to convening.”
Continue reading...US president says he told Xi Jinping that Beijing had an ‘obligation’ to tell Kim Jong-un to avoid a seventh test
Joe Biden has said he told Xi Jinping that China has an obligation to try to talk North Korea out of conducting a seventh nuclear test, although the US president said it was unclear whether Beijing had the ability to do so.
Biden met Xi for more than three hours on Monday, ahead of the G20 summit in Bali, their first face-to-face meeting since Biden took power. At a press conference after the meeting, Biden said he told Xi “that I thought they had an obligation to attempt to make it clear” to North Korea that it should not go ahead with a test.
Continue reading...Democrats are behind in several districts needed to secure control of Congress’ lower chamber for another two years
The Senate will this week vote on a bill to codify same-sex marriage rights, Semafor reports.
Same-sex marriage rights are currently established nationwide by a supreme court ruling, but Democrats are trying to pass a law protecting the rights after rightwing justice Clarence Thomas in June mulled overturning the ruling.
Continue reading...Bill Burns says US is not ‘discussing settlement of war’ in Ukraine as Zelenskiy visits Kherson
The CIA director, Bill Burns, met his Russian counterpart in Ankara on Monday in a rare high-level meeting, but the US insists it is not engaged in secret peace talks with Moscow without Ukrainian officials being present.
The meeting in the Turkish capital with the head of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, followed speculation that some senior US figures would like Ukraine to enter negotiations with the Kremlin to end the war.
Continue reading...Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer hail achievement after Nevada victory, while Georgia Senate heads to runoff
Analysts say victory by Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada, which secured her party’s control of the Senate for two more years, will be of massive importance to Joe Biden’s plans for filling judicial vacancies.
Retaining the majority in the chamber gives the president the opportunity to keep getting his picks confirmed, something for which the incumbent senator was a key ally even before the midterms.
Continue reading...House control still undecided as Republicans lead and attention pivots to Florida, where Trump is expected to announce 2024 run
As the balance of power in the US House of Representatives remained unresolved on Sunday, Democrats are celebrating the projection that they won control of the Senate, marking a significant victory for Joe Biden as Republicans backed by his presidential predecessor Donald Trump underperformed in key battleground states.
While senior Democrats remained guarded Sunday about the chances of keeping control of both chambers of Congress, House speaker Nancy Pelosi hailed the party’s performance in the midterms following months of projections indicating heavy losses.
Continue reading...Win takes Democrats to key number of 50 seats in Senate, in blow to Republicans who hoped for ‘red wave’
Democrats have kept control of the Senate after the crucial race in Nevada was announced in their favor, cementing a midterms election performance for the party that widely beat expectations.
Democratic US senator Catherine Cortez Masto has now beaten Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, a former state attorney general who was endorsed by former president Donald Trump, according to the Associated Press.
Continue reading...Meeting with Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, is first between leaders of Australia and China since 2019
Anthony Albanese has met the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, at a gala dinner in Cambodia, opening the first leader-to-leader dialogue between the two countries since 2019.
The Australian prime minister’s office confirmed on Sunday the two leaders had a brief exchange after arriving at the dinner in Phnom Penh. The last conversation between the leaders of the two countries occurred when Scott Morrison and Li met in 2019.
Continue reading...Democrat Mark Kelly appears close to re-election in Arizona, with Nevada still up in the air and Georgia going to a runoff vote
All eyes are on media results trackers as Arizona and Nevada’s Senate races inch closer to official results and news on control of the House looms.
So a quick note about Alaska…
Continue reading...Taiwan, human rights, and North Korea expected to be discussed as Biden seeks to ‘build a floor’ for US-China relationship
Joe Biden will meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of the G20 summit, the White House has said, in their first face-to-face talks since the US leader became president.
Biden hopes the meeting on Monday will allow him to build a “floor” for relations between the two countries, but he will be honest about US concerns, including on Taiwan and human rights, a senior administration official said on Thursday.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. You can find all our US midterms coverage here
Sheera Frenkel and Steven Lee Myers report for the New York Times that researchers who study election disinformation said most efforts to stoke doubt about the results of the midterms had failed to spread widely. They write:
The major social media platforms all struggled to combat misinformation and disinformation online as the results were tabulated, but researchers who study the problem said efforts to stoke doubt about the outcome of the American democratic process had — at least so far — failed to take root. Some saw it as a hopeful sign of the political system’s resilience, though few declared victory in the fight against misinformation.
According to a New York Times analysis, more than half of 370 candidates who in some way had cast doubt on President Biden’s victory had won their races as of midday on Wednesday. They included 170 members of the House, where Republicans appeared to be closing in on reclaiming a majority. Although the party fell short of the “red wave” that many had anticipated, its successes may have tempered some of the conspiracy theories that emerged early Tuesday.
“There is a lot of anger and noise on the mainstream platforms like Twitter and Facebook, but the most aggressive statements on the day of the midterms, including calls to violence, are found on the alt platforms including Gab, Parler and Telegram,” said Alex Stamos, the director of the Stanford Internet Observatory, which tracked election disinformation online as part of the Elections Integrity Partnership. Users in some cases called for storming polling stations or using violence, though no significant attacks unfolded on election day.
Continue reading...Prime minister to see Britain’s Rishi Sunak and leaders of Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand and is likely to catch up with Joe Biden
Speculation is mounting that Anthony Albanese will meet either the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, or the president, Xi Jinping, during the hectic November summit season, which kicks off in Cambodia this weekend.
Australia’s prime minister leaves on Friday for the East Asia and Australia-Asean summits in Phnom Penh before travelling to the G20 in Bali and completing his trip at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Bangkok towards the end of next week.
Continue reading...Russia will be represented by foreign minister Sergei Lavrov at next week’s gathering of G20 leaders
Vladimir Putin will not attend a gathering of leaders from the G20 nations in Bali next week, Indonesian and Russian officials confirmed on Thursday, ending weeks of speculation about a possible confrontation with the US president, Joe Biden.
Russia’s president will be represented by his veteran foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, officials said. “President Putin’s programme is still being worked out; he could participate virtually,” said Yulia Tomskaya, the chief of protocol as the Russian embassy in Indonesia.Putin may have wanted to avoid potentially explosive showdowns with western leaders including Biden, events that Russian media might have been unable to present to his benefit.
Continue reading...President had been asked if he thought the new Twitter boss was a threat to US national security
Joe Biden thinks Twitter boss Elon Musk’s relationships with other countries is “worthy of being looked at”.
Biden was asked at a news conference on Wednesday whether he thought Musk was a threat to national security and if his acquisition of Twitter with help from a Saudi Arabian conglomerate should be investigated by the US government.
Reuters contributed to this report
Continue reading...Latest updates and results as Democrats perform better than expected and Georgia Senate race heads to runoff
One person who looks likely to benefit from the midterms results is ultra-conservative Republican Ron DeSantis. He was re-elected as governor of Florida, saying that the state is where “woke goes to die”. DeSantis defeated Democrat Charlie Crist in the midterm elections, granting him a second term as Florida’s governor. There is every likelihood, as the Republican party comes to terms with these results, that DeSantis could be their frontrunner for the White House nomination in 2024.
Young voters often come in for criticism for being apathetic about politics and staying at home, but at least one analyst is laying the cause of the Democrats better than anticipated performance at the feet of Generation Z, who appear from exit polls to have massively skewed towards them.
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