Republicans outline ‘first 100 days’ of Trump presidency – as it happened
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Donald Trump has been elected the 47th president of the United States in a stunning political resurrection that sent shock waves through the country and around the world.
Trump becomes the first convicted criminal to win the White House. At 78 he is also the oldest person ever elected to the office.
Continue reading...Starmer and Badenoch congratulate Trump on ‘historic election victory’ – UK politics live
Both PM and leader of the opposition offer congratulations with more full-throated support from Tory rightwingers such as Truss and Braverman
Another Labour politician who has criticised Donald Trump strongly in the past is Emily Thornberry, shadow foreign secretary when Jeremy Corbyn was Labour leader and now chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee. In an interview on the Today programme this morning she said Trump’s victory (or apparent victory – he still has not officially hit 270 electoral college votes) was “disappointing”, and that it made the world “unpredictable”.
When it was put to her that she described him as a “racist, sexual predator” when he visited the UK during his first term as president, she replied:
Well, he is. But he is the president of the United States, and we need to work with him.
I know that many Londoners will be anxious about the outcome of the US presidential election. Many will be fearful about what it will mean for democracy and for women’s rights, or how the result impacts the situation in the Middle East or the fate of Ukraine. Others will be worried about the future of NATO or tackling the climate crisis …
The lesson of today is that progress is not inevitable. But asserting our progressive values is more important than ever - re-committing to building a world where racism and hatred is rejected, the fundamental rights of women and girls are upheld, and where we continue to tackle the crisis of climate change head on.
Continue reading...Marwan Bishara on ‘historic turning point’ for US
Orbán, Zelenskyy, Macron and European leaders respond to Trump’s win
Public congratulations but private foreboding as heads of state, ministers and diplomats express hopes for cooperation and peace
Western leaders raced to respond to the return of Donald Trump to the White House with a powerful mandate to put his policy of “America first” into action once again. But many of the public congratulations could do little to disguise the private foreboding of what the next four years will augur for European security, populism and the world economy.
Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister and the European leader closest to Trump, was one of the first to hail his ally’s victory. He posted on social media: “The biggest comeback in US political history! Congratulations to President @realDonaldTrump on his enormous win. A much-needed victory for the world!”
Continue reading...Enlightened Americans must now rise up and resist
Middle East crisis: UN members must defend Unrwa against Israel’s ban, says aid agency boss – as it happened
Philippe Lazzarini, head of Unrwa, says aid agency will collapse ‘without intervention by member states’
Lebanon’s army has issued a warning to residents in the Ghobeiry area of the southern suburbs of Beirut that today between 10.30am and 1.30pm it will “detonate unexploded ordnance” in the area.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered his congratulations to Donald Trump, who appears on course for re-election in the US.
Dear Donald and Melania Trump, congratulations on history’s greatest comeback! Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America. This is a huge victory! In true friendship, yours, Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu.
Continue reading...What does Kamala Harris’s loss in the 2024 election mean for the US?
Trump sends shock waves around world as he is elected US president | First Thing
Republican nominee told crowd ‘nothing will stop me’ after taking North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Plus, Americans explain what decided their vote
Good morning.
Donald Trump has been elected the 47th president of the United States in a stunning comeback that has sent shock waves around the world, after he secured his path to victory through the country’s battleground states.
What does this mean for Trump’s legal woes? It looks like a get-out-jail card as the Trump ally and South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham told special counsel Jack Smith that “it is time to look forward to a new chapter in your legal career” and to “bring these cases to an end”.
What about the House of Representatives? That race, where the Republicans were defending a majority, is yet to be called – only 376 of 435 seats had been announced at time of writing.
Continue reading...Video: Donald Trump wins the US presidency
‘Stranger than fiction’: Sunderland doctor Thomas Kwan’s plan for murder
GP in inheritance row aimed to kill his mother’s partner by wearing disguise to administer a fake Covid booster jab
“Sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction,” said the prosecuting barrister, Peter Makepeace KC, as he outlined a case which reads like the plot of an airport thriller. Think of an Agatha Christie-inspired Columbo episode with a splash of Breaking Bad.
The story of the outwardly respectable GP Thomas Kwan and his plot to kill a man he greedily saw as standing in the way of his inheritance is a wild one.
Continue reading...Nature campaigners urge UK taxpayers to take stakes in forest projects
Land reform charities call for better regulation of UK’s carbon market so profits can be shared with public
Nature campaigners have called for taxpayers to take stakes in forest and peatland projects designed to store carbon, to avoid all the profits from carbon credits going to private investors.
A report from the Revive Coalition, an umbrella group for Scottish land reform and conservation charities, says carbon credits also need to be used much more effectively to bolster demand and help the UK meet its net zero targets.
Government-owned banks such as the Scottish National Investment Bank should invest in carbon projects, including on public land.
It becomes mandatory for all large and medium-sized companies to have audited carbon reduction targets to avoid green washing.
All carbon offsetting projects must register with the official schemes, the Woodland carbon code and the Peatland carbon code.
A new land tax is set up that is reduced if the land is managed to protect the climate and promote nature recovery.
Continue reading...GP who poisoned mother’s partner while disguised as Covid nurse given 31 years
Thomas Kwan tried to murder Patrick O’Hara with fake jab while dressed as nurse in attempt to protect his inheritance
A “money obsessed” GP who poisoned his mother’s partner while disguised as a nurse administering a fake Covid booster jab has been jailed for 31 years and five months.
Thomas Kwan, 53, had denied attempting to murder Patrick O’Hara but changed his plea to guilty after one day of evidence at his trial at Newcastle crown court.
Continue reading...US election results: Key takeaways as Trump wins
Who Is Israel Katz, Israel’s new defence minister?
Wetherspoon’s boss warns of pub price rises as result of Labour budget
Tim Martin blamed increases to the minimum wage and employers’ national insurance contributions
Pubgoers should expect prices to go up as a result of Labour’s first budget in 14 years, the politically outspoken boss of Wetherspoon’s, Tim Martin, has said.
Speaking as the hospitality chain announced record quarterly sales, Martin pinned the blame for an expected increase in pubs’ costs on the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, whose economic “pedigree” he has previously praised.
Continue reading...Trump win is a victory for Netanyahu, but Israeli PM may not get it all his way
US president-elect has indicated he wants an end to war in Gaza and his position on conflict with Iran remains unclear
The US election result is highly consequential for the Middle East and is first and foremost a win for Benjamin Netanyahu, who did not try to hide his preference for a Trump victory.
The Biden administration had put off imposing any meaningful pressure on the Israeli prime minister until after the election, despite its growing frustration with him on multiple issues: the obstruction of aid into Gaza, his campaign against the UN, his obstruction of a hostage-for-peace deal, and his government’s support for violent West Bank settlers.
Continue reading...How Trump pulled off an incredible comeback
Anthony Zurcher: Result hands Trump free rein
Trump tariffs would halve UK growth and push up prices, says thinktank
NIESR warns British economy would be one of the worst affected by protectionist policies
UK growth is likely to be halved by Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential race if goes on to impose the swingeing new tariffs he has threatened, a leading thinktank has warned.
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said the protectionist measures planned by the Republican challenger for the White House would result in weaker activity, rising inflation and higher interest rates from the Bank of England.
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