DES MOINES, Iowa: Mike Pence is staking his presidential hopes on Iowa as he launches a campaign for the Republican nomination for president in Des Moines on Wednesday that will make him the first vice president in modern history to take on his former running mate.
Pence’s campaign will also test the party’s appetite for a socially conservative, mild-mannered and deeply religious candidate who has denounced the populist tide that has swept through his party under former President Donald Trump. And it will show whether Pence still has a political future after Jan. 6, 2021, with a large portion of GOP voters still believing Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen and that Pence had the power to reject the results.
Pence and his advisers see Iowa — the state that will cast the first votes of the GOP nominating calendar — as key to his potential pathway to the nomination. Its caucus-goers include a large portion of evangelical Christian voters, whom they see as a natural constituency for Pence. They also think Pence, who represented Indiana in Congress and as governor, is a good personality fit with the Midwestern state.
“We believe the path to victory runs through Iowa and all of its 99 counties,” said Scott Reed, co-chair of a super PAC that launched last month to support Pence’s candidacy.
Iowa has typically been seen as a launching pad for presidential candidates, delivering momentum, money and attention to hopefuls who win or defy expectations. But recent past winners including Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee have failed to ultimately win the nomination.
And Pence faces steep challenges. He enters the race as among the best-known Republican candidates in a crowded GOP field that now includes Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
But Pence — seen by Trump critics as complicit with his most indefensible actions and maligned by Trump loyalists as a traitor — is also saddled with high unfavorable ratings.
A CNN poll conducted last month found 45 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they would not support Pence under any circumstance. Only 16 percent said the same about Trump.
Pence’s favorability has also slipped in Iowa, according to The Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll.
Shortly after leaving office, in June 2021, 86 percent of Iowa Republicans said they had a favorable view of Pence. But the Register’s March Iowa Poll showed that figure had dropped to 66 percent. The poll also found Pence with higher unfavorable ratings than all of the other candidates it asked about, including Trump and DeSantis, with 26 percent of Republicans polled saying they have a “somewhat” or “very” unfavorable view of him.
And just 58 percent of Iowa evangelicals said they had favorable feelings toward Pence — a particularly disappointing number, given his campaign’s strategy.
But Pence, who has already visited Iowa more than a dozen times since leaving office, has also received a warm welcome from voters during his trips. During a “Roast and Ride” event over the weekend that drew a long list of 2024 candidates, Pence stood out as the only candidate to actually mount a Harley and participate in the event’s annual motorcycle ride. When he arrived at a barbecue at the state fairgrounds, he moved easily from table to table, warmly greeting and chatting with attendees.
But there remains lingering skepticism of Pence among many Republican voters who adhere to the baseless but persistent conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen. Many who cling to the falsehood believe Pence was complicit in the plot to deny Trump a second term because he refused Trump’s pressure campaign to reject the Electoral College vote when he presided over a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump’s supporters violently stormed the building.
Pence advisers say they recognize the challenge and intend to explain to voters directly that Pence was adhering to his constitutional duty and never had the power to impact the vote in his ceremonial role.
“I think it’s something you have to walk straight through,” said his longtime adviser Marc Short.
Beyond Jan. 6, his team sees their primary goal as reintroducing Pence to a country that largely knows him as Trump’s second-in-command. They want to remind voters of his time in congressional leadership and as governor and are planning a campaign heavy with town halls, house parties and visits to local diners and Pizza Ranch restaurants — — more intimate settings that will help voters get to know him personally.
“People have seen Mike Pence the vice president. I think what people are going to see is Mike Pence the person,” said Todd Hudson, the speaker of the House in Indiana and a longtime Pence friend who has signed on to help with outreach to state legislators. “I’m super excited for people to get to know the Mike Pence that I know, who’s funny, who’s just a wonderful person... the more relaxed Mike Pence.”
Reed believes there is a strong desire in the party for a candidate like Pence who espouses Reagan-style conservatism, including traditional social values, hawkish foreign policy and small government economics.
“We think this nomination fight is going to be an epic battle for the heart and soul of the conservative, traditional wing of the Republican Party. And Pence is going to campaign as a classic conservative. His credentials are unmatched,” he said.
Unlike Trump and DeSantis, Pence has argued that cuts to Social Security and Medicare must be on the table and has blasted those who have questioned why the US should continue to send aid to Ukraine to counter Russian aggression.
“We are not going to try to out-Trump Pence. Everybody else is,” Reed said. “Pence is the only candidate running not to be Trump’s VP.”
Mike Pence to launch presidential campaign against Donald Trump in Iowa
https://arab.news/7macf
Mike Pence to launch presidential campaign against Donald Trump in Iowa
- Pence’s campaign to test party’s appetite for a socially conservative, mild-mannered and deeply religious candidate
- Former vice president and his advisers see Iowa as key to his potential pathway to the nomination
India’s Modi denies stoking Hindu-Muslim divisions to win election, files nomination
- Modi began campaign by showcasing his economic record, governance and popularity
- Changed tack after the first phase to accuse opposition Congress of being pro-Muslim
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended himself against criticism that he is stoking divisions between Hindus and Muslims to win national elections as he filed his nomination on Tuesday for re-election from one of Hinduism’s holiest cities.
India began voting April 19 in the seven-phase election in which Modi, 73, is seeking to be the second prime minister to win a third straight term since independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru.
Although Modi began his campaign by showcasing his economic record, governance and popularity, he has changed tack after the first phase to accuse the main opposition Congress party of being pro-Muslim.
Analysts say this was likely aimed at firing up the base of his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party after a low turnout in the first phase sparked doubts that BJP and its allies could win the landslide that the party sought.
“I believe people of my country will vote for me,” Modi told broadcaster CNN-News18 in Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
“The day I start talking about Hindu-Muslim (in politics) will be the day I lose my ability to lead a public life,” Modi said, speaking in Hindi. “I will not do Hindu-Muslim. That is my resolve.”
Modi’s critics often accuse him and BJP of targeting minority Muslims to please their hard-line voters, which he and the party deny.
While Hindus make up about 80 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people, it also has the world’s third-largest Muslim population of about 200 million.
Congress has complained to the Election Commission that Modi made “deeply objectionable” comments about Muslims in an April 21 speech, violating poll rules. The commission has sought a response from the BJP on the complaint.
In that speech, Modi accused Congress of planning to do a wealth concentration survey, seize properties and redistribute them, which Congress has denied.
He said at the time:
“During their (Congress) previous government, they said that Muslims have the first right on the wealth of the nation. That means, who will they redistribute this wealth to? They will give it those who have more children, to infiltrators.”
On Tuesday, Modi said he did not name any community in that speech, even as he continued to focus on the theme.
“I have neither said Hindu or Muslim. I have said you should have as many children as you can support,” Modi said.
Detained Thai monarchy reform activist dies after hunger strike
- Netiporn Sanesangkhom, was a member of the activist group Thaluwang, known for their bold and aggressive campaigns
- She is the first political activist in Thailand to have died after carrying on a partial hunger strike for 110 days
Netiporn “Bung” Sanesangkhom, 28, was a member of the activist group Thaluwang, known for their bold and aggressive campaigns demanding reform of the monarchy and abolition of the law that makes it illegal to defame members of the royal family. The group’s name can be loosely translated as “breaking through the palace,” a reference to its open criticism of Thailand’s monarchy.
She appears to be the first political activist in Thailand to have died after carrying on a partial hunger strike for 110 days while she was awaiting trial.
The Thailand branch of the human rights group Amnesty International described Netiporn’s death as “a shocking reminder that Thai authorities are denying activists their right to temporary release on bail and using detention to silence the peaceful expression of dissent.”
“This is a grim day for Thai society, highlighting the severe judicial harassment and the justice system’s failure to recognize basic human rights,” the group said. “Speaking out should not lead to death; it should inspire change.”
The popular opposition Move Forward party, which has also campaigned for reform of the monarchy, issued a statement saying that people should not be jailed for holding political opinions and that persons accused of political offenses should be granted bail.
Foreign diplomats and ambassadors from the US, UK, Canada, the EU and elsewhere offered their condolences after Netiporn’s death. German Ambassador Ernest Reichel wrote on social platform X: “My wish would be that political disagreements are not taken to such bitter and extreme consequences.”
Thailand’s monarchy until recent years was widely considered an untouchable, bedrock element of Thai nationalism. Criticism of the monarchy was taboo, and insulting or defaming key royal family members remains punishable by up to 15 years in prison under a lese majeste law, usually referred to as Article 112 of Thailand’s Criminal Code.
Student-led pro-democracy protests beginning in 2020 openly criticized the monarchy, leading to vigorous prosecutions under the law, which had previously been relatively rarely employed. Critics say the law is often wielded as a tool to quash political dissent.
The protest movement faded due to government harassment and the coronavirus pandemic, but Netiporn was one of more than 270 activists charged with the royal defamation law since the protests in 2020-21.
Netiporn suffered cardiac arrest early Tuesday morning, and medical teams spent several hours trying to resuscitate her. She was pronounced dead just before noon, according to a statement from the Corrections Department.
She had two charges of lese majeste pending against her, both of them involving conducting polls in public spaces in 2022 asking people’s opinion about the royal family, according to the group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights. Her release on bail was revoked in January due to her participation in a political rally last year.
Netiporn started her hunger strike after she was detained in January. The Corrections Department said she began eating and drinking water again after April 4. However, the human rights lawyer group’s latest update on her condition on April 25 said she was still fasting.
Two fellow jailed activists are also carrying out hunger strikes. Both are Thaluwang members who were also charged with lese majeste for agitating for reform of the monarchy, and they started their hunger strikes about a month after Netiporn.
Netiporn’s lawyers had applied for her to be transferred from the Central Corrections Hospital to Thammasat University Hospital but she was never granted a prolonged stay there for treatment, said her lawyer, Kritsadang Nutcharas. The authorities said they would establish the legal cause of death.
“Does it seem like there’s standard treatment in the Thai justice system when we compare what these kids are going through with their political charges and what some prominent adults have gone through?” Kritsadang said. He was making an apparent reference to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who returned from exile last year to serve a prison term in corruption-related cases but never spent a single night in jail on grounds of ill health.
At a candlelight vigil Tuesday night outside Bangkok’s Criminal Court, another activist facing lese majeste charges, Panusaya “Rung” Sitthijirawattanakul, decried the failure of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s government to ease the plight of political prisoners.
“Do you need someone to die first before you think of doing something?” she said. “How many of us have to die before you start listening to us? We are not people to be scared of. We’re just ordinary people who are asking for something. So this is very brutal.”
Thaluwang has held high-profile protests calling not only for reform of the monarchy, but also changes in the justice system and an end to political persecution through the courts. It has also called for rejection of Thailand’s application to join the UN Human Rights Council.
Thailand announced its bid for a seat on the rights council for the 2025-2027 term after the current government took office last year, seeking to show its commitment to protect human rights. Critics charge that the reality of law enforcement in the country strongly contradicts its ambition to be recognized by the international community as a human rights defender.
Human Rights Watch has raised concerns over “the Thai government’s use of arbitrary arrest and pretrial detention to punish critics of the monarchy for their views,” which it says is a violation of their rights under international human rights law.
Filipino activists and fishermen sail in 100-boat flotilla to disputed shoal guarded by China
- Philippine coast guard and navy deploy one patrol ship each to keep watch from a distance on the activists and fishermen
- China effectively seized the Scarborough Shoal, a triangle-shaped atoll with a vast fishing lagoon, in 2012
MANILA: A flotilla of about 100 mostly small fishing boats led by Filipino activists sailed Wednesday to a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, where Beijing’s coast guard and suspected militia ships have used powerful water cannons to ward off what they regard as intruders.
The Philippine coast guard and navy deployed one patrol ship each to keep watch from a distance on the activists and fishermen, who set off on wooden boats with bamboo outriggers to assert Manila’s sovereignty over the Scarborough Shoal. Dozens of journalists joined the three-day voyage.
Activists and volunteers, including a Roman Catholic priest, belonging to a nongovernment coalition called Atin Ito — Tagalog for This is Ours — planned to float small territorial buoys and distribute food packs and fuel to Filipino fishermen near the shoal, organizers said, adding they were prepared for contingencies.
“Our mission is peaceful based on international law and aimed at asserting our sovereign rights,” said Rafaela David, a lead organizer. “We will sail with determination, not provocation, to civilianize the region and safeguard our territorial integrity.”
In December, David’s group with boatloads of fishermen also tried to sail to another disputed shoal but cut short the trip after being tailed by a Chinese ship.
China effectively seized the Scarborough Shoal, a triangle-shaped atoll with a vast fishing lagoon ringed by mostly submerged coral outcrops, by surrounding it with its coast guard ships after a tense 2012 standoff with Philippine government ships.
Angered by China’s action, the Philippine government brought the disputes to international arbitration in 2013 and largely won with a tribunal in The Hague ruling three years later that China’s expansive claims based on historical grounds in the busy seaway were invalid under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The ruling declared the Scarborough Shoal a traditional fishing area for Chinese, Filipino and Vietnamese fishermen. In the past, fishermen have anchored in the shoal to avoid huge waves in the high seas in stormy weather.
China refused to participate in the arbitration, rejected the outcome and continues to defy it.
Two weeks ago, Chinese coast guard and suspected militia ships used water cannons on Philippine coast guard and fisheries boats patrolling the Scarborough Shoal, damaging both craft.
The Philippines condemned the Chinese coast guard’s action on the shoal, which lies in the Southeast Asian nation’s internationally recognized exclusive economic zone. The Chinese coast guard said it took a “necessary measure” after the Philippine ships “violated China’s sovereignty.”
The Chinese coast guard has also reinstalled a floating barrier across the entrance to the shoal’s vast fishing lagoon, the Philippine coast guard said. The Philippine coast guard removed a similar barrier in the past to allow Filipinos to fish there.
In addition to the Philippines and China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have also been involved in the territorial disputes.
Chinese coast guard ships had also ventured into waters close to Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia in the past, sparking tensions and protests, but the Southeast Asian nations with considerable economic ties with China have not been as aggressively critical against Beijing’s increasingly assertive actions.
The Philippines has released videos of its territorial faceoffs with China and invited journalists to witness the hostilities in the high seas in a strategy to gain international support, sparking a word war with Beijing.
The increasing frequency of the skirmishes between the Philippines and China has led to minor collisions, injured Filipino navy personnel and damaged supply boats in recent months. It has sparked fears the territorial disputes could degenerate into an armed conflict between China and the United States, a longtime treaty ally of the Philippines.
Indonesia floods kill 58 as rescuers race to find missing
- Rescuers said many of the retrieved bodies were found in or around nearby rivers after locals were swept away by the deluge of volcanic material, mud and rain that tore through neighborhoods
Tanah Datar, Indonesia: Indonesian rescuers raced Wednesday to find dozens of people still unaccounted for after flash floods and cold lava flow that inundated neighborhoods and swept away houses over the weekend left 58 people dead.
Hours of torrential rain on Saturday caused mud and rocks to flow into districts near one of Indonesia’s most active volcanos, sweeping away dozens of houses and damaging roads and mosques.
“Based on the latest data... the number of people who died is 58,” national disaster agency chief Suharyanto said in a statement Wednesday.
He added that 35 people remained missing — up from local rescuers’ figure of 22 on Tuesday — and 33 people were injured.
Rescuers said many of the retrieved bodies were found in or around nearby rivers after locals were swept away by the deluge of volcanic material, mud and rain that tore through neighborhoods.
Cold lava, also known as lahar, is volcanic material such as ash, sand and pebbles carried down a volcano’s slopes by rain.
Heavy equipment was deployed to clear debris from the areas worst hit by flooding, which has affected transport access in six districts, said Suharyanto, who goes by one name.
More than 3,300 people have been forced to evacuate from affected areas.
To aid the rescue effort, authorities on Wednesday deployed weather modification technology, the term Indonesian officials use for cloud seeding.
In this case, it is being used in a bid to make clouds rain earlier so the rainfall’s intensity is weakened by the time it reaches the disaster-struck area.
Indonesia is prone to landslides and floods during the rainy season.
In 2022, about 24,000 people were evacuated and two children were killed in floods on Sumatra island, with environmental campaigners blaming deforestation caused by logging for worsening the disaster.
Trees act as a natural defense against floods, slowing the rate at which water runs down hills and into rivers.
Biden administration is giving $1 billion in new weapons and ammo to Israel, congressional aides say
Biden administration is giving $1 billion in new weapons and ammo to Israel, congressional aides say
- The package being sent includes about $700 million for tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles and $60 million in mortar rounds, the aides said
- Israel has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory
WASHINGTON: The Biden administration has told key lawmakers it is sending a new package of more than $1 billion in arms and ammunition to Israel, three congressional aides said Tuesday.
It’s the first arms shipment to Israel to be announced by the administration since it put another arms transfer — consisting of 3,500 bombs — on hold earlier in the month. The administration has said it paused that earlier transfer to keep Israel from using the bombs in its growing offensive in the crowded southern Gaza city of Rafah.
The congressional aides spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an arms transfer that has not yet been made public.
The package being sent includes about $700 million for tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles and $60 million in mortar rounds, the aides said.
There was no immediate indication when the arms would be sent. Israel is now seven months into its war against Hamas in Gaza.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the plans to move the package.
House Republicans were planning this week to advance a bill to mandate the delivery of offensive weaponry for Israel. Following Biden’s move to put a pause on bomb shipments last week, Republicans have been swift in their condemnation, arguing it represents the abandonment of the closest US ally in the Middle East.
The White House said Tuesday that Biden would veto the bill if it were to pass Congress. The bill also has practically no chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate. But House Democrats are somewhat divided on the issue, and roughly two dozen have signed onto a letter to the Biden administration saying they were “deeply concerned about the message” sent by pausing the bomb shipment.
In addition to the written veto threat, the White House has been in touch with various lawmakers and congressional aides about the legislation, according to an administration official.
“We strongly, strongly oppose attempts to constrain the President’s ability to deploy US security assistance consistent with US foreign policy and national security objectives,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said this week, adding that the administration plans to spend “every last cent” appropriated by Congress in the national security supplemental package that was signed into law by Biden last month.
