Month: September 2023

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Senior U.S. officials said on Friday that a White House summit with a dozen Pacific Islands leaders this week was successful, and that Washington was listening to the region, not asking countries to choose between the U.S. and China.

U.S. President Joe Biden met the Pacific Island leaders for a second summit in just over a year on Monday, pledging new infrastructure investment including subsea cables, officials said, as part of a charm offensive aimed at curbing inroads by China into a region Washington considers strategically crucial.

Biden also pledged to work with Congress to provide $200 million more in funding for projects aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change, spurring economic growth, countering illegal fishing and improving public health.

Dr. Mira Rapp-Hooper, National Security Council senior director for Oceania, told reporters in a teleconference from Washington on Friday that the conversations between Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pacific Island leaders were “collaborative, constructive, forward looking and I think most importantly involved an incredible amount of listening by U.S. government officials”.

The leaders of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, New Caledonia, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, French Polynesia, Nauru, Tuvalu and Palau attended the summit.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manesseh Sogavare, who has built close ties with China, said on Wednesday he skipped the summit to avoid a “lecture”.

The Biden Administration had reached out to Sogavare “at the highest levels to encourage him to join us” and were disappointed he did not attend, Rapp-Hooper said.

The top diplomat for East Asia Daniel Kritenbrink said the United States was not “asking countries to choose” between development partners, and was optimistic about U.S. partnerships in the region.

Agreements will be concluded and implemented “very soon” with three Pacific Island nations covered by so-called Compacts of Free Association, said Kritenbrink in the teleconference.

The U.S. has said it will commit a total of $7.1 billion over 20 years to the Palau, Federated States of Micronesia and Marshall Islands, subject to congressional approval, and the finalisation of the Marshall Islands negotiations.

Under the agreements, due to expire on Sept. 30, the U.S. has responsibility for their defense and provides economic assistance.

Blinken held discussions with the three leaders about a plan to ensure U.S. financial obligations are met to the freely associated states if there was another shutdown of government agencies next week, Kritenbrink said.

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) – The number of people crossing the perilous Darien Gap linking Panama and Colombia has hit a record high of 400,000 in the year to September, official data showed, as migration to the United States intensified despite efforts to curb the flow.

More than half of those migrants were children and babies, Panama’s security ministry said in a statement, adding that September alone saw the number of crossings increase by a fifth compared to the previous month.

The year-to-date figure of 402,300 migrants is almost double the number for the whole of 2022.

The United Nations had estimated in April that the number of migrants for the entire year would be 400,000.

Most of the migrants traversing the dangerous stretch of jungle are Venezuelans, with others from Ecuador, Haiti and other countries, Panama’s security ministry has said.

Panama announced earlier this month measures to stop the increase in migration, including deporting more people with criminal records and a decrease in the number of days some tourists are allowed to stay in the country.

These measures follow a two-month program launched in April by the United States, Panama and Colombia to tackle undocumented immigration.

Costa Rica, another transit country for the migrants, declared a state of emergency earlier this week, and its President Rodrigo Chaves said he would visit the Darien Gap in early October in an effort to contain a migrant crisis.

The United States in May rolled out a new policy to deter illegal crossings, including deporting migrants and banning re-entry for five years, as the Biden administration grappled with migration at record highs.

The tougher measures drove the border-crossing rate down some 70% initially, but the number of migrants arriving at the U.S. border with Mexico has surged recently, suggesting the early deterrent effect is wearing off.

Some African and Cuban migrants and asylum seekers heading to the United States told Reuters they were flying into Nicaragua to bypass the perils of the Darien Gap.

Remember when certain Georgia Republican state legislators vowed to somehow magically oust Fulton County DA Fani Willis in spite of not having the votes or ability to do so, and pretty much the entire media tried to convince you that they were going to pull it off?

It obviously didn’t happen, given that Fani Willis is still standing. It was never going to happen, because in spite of all the doomsday hype, Georgia Republicans never actually gave themselves the ability to remove Willis. They only gave an independent review board the theoretical ability to remove Willis. Which meant it was never going to happen, because if they had wanted to remove her, they’d have given themselves the ability to do it.

Now things have taken an interesting turn. Georgia Republican state legislator Colton Moore, who verbally led the charge in insisting that Fani Willis would be ousted, has instead been ousted himself. Once he realized that his fellow Georgia Republicans weren’t willing to go along with pretending that Willis was going to be ousted, he turned on them, and started attacking them. Now, in response, Georgia Republican legislators have indefinitely suspended him from their caucus. This isn’t an outright expulsion, but it’s certainly an ouster.

Major media outlets on both sides spent months pointing to Colton Moore’s rhetoric as supposed proof that Georgia Republicans were indeed going to oust Fani Willis. The media certainly got their ratings out it by pretending that Willis was in danger. But in the end, math is math, and there were never even close to being enough Georgia Republicans who wanted to stick their neck out by actually trying to oust Willis. As Palmer Report said from day one, Willis’ ouster was simply never going to be a thing. And now it’s Colton Moore who’s been ousted instead.

The post Georgia Republican legislator Colton Moore, who vowed to oust Fani Willis, just got ousted himself appeared first on Palmer Report.

When a New York judge issued a summary judgment this week finding Donald Trump liable for financial fraud, it was a good reminder that Trump is powerless to stop or even delay what the legal system is doing to him. Now Trump has managed to lose in New York court again today.

Even in the wake of the summary judgment, there is still an accompanying trial set to start next week, in order to determine the size of the financial penalties. Weeks ago Trump got an appeals court to place a temporary “hold” on the start of the trial, pending a hearing over one of his nonsense filings. At the time, Palmer Report predicted that this “hold” would be resolved before the trial start date, and wouldn’t end up delaying things at all.

Sure enough, the appeals court announced today that Trump’s request for an indefinite hold is denied, and that the existing temporary hold is lifted. In other words the trial will start next week, on time, as expected. Trump’s antics didn’t delay the start of the trial by even a single day or a single hour.

This is just how things go in the legal system. Once the trial judge has a firm trial date in place, the defendant’s last minute attempts to delay the trial typically fall on deaf ears. We saw it in the E. Jean Carroll civil rape trial. We’re now seeing it in the New York civil fraud trial. And we’ll see it in Trump’s criminal trials as well. Trump doesn’t have a magic “delay” wand. He never did.

The post Donald Trump just lost in New York court AGAIN appeared first on Palmer Report.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Embattled U.S. Senator Bob Menendez left a closed-door meeting with fellow Democrats on Thursday insisting that he will remain on the job despite calls for his resignation over federal charges he accepted bribes.

“I will continue to cast votes on behalf of the people in New Jersey as I have for 18 years and I am sure when they need those votes, there’ll be looking forward for me to cast those votes,” Menendez told CNN following the gathering, which lasted for about an hour.

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin repeatedly told reporters that Menendez conveyed during that meeting that he would not resign, and Manchin said no senators posed any questions to the 69-year-old lawmaker.

Menendez has temporarily stepped down from his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was replaced by Democratic Senator Ben Cardin.

Many of the Democratic senators leaving Thursday’s meeting refused to comment to reporters.

One of the most outspoken Democrats demanding a resignation, Senator John Fetterman, told reporters that he did not attend the lunchtime meeting. He added, however, that Menendez was “continuing a level of arrogance that is astonishing.” He told reporters: “I would like to pursue whatever avenues are available” to get Menendez to leave, including a move in the full Senate to expel him.

It would take a two-thirds vote of the 100 senators to remove a senator. That has occurred only 15 times in U.S. history, 14 of which were during the U.S. Civil War for supporting the Confederacy.

At least 27 senators in the 51-member caucus – Democrats and three independents who typically vote with them – have called for Menendez’ resignation including No. 2 Senate Democrat Dick Durbin. Gary Peters, the head of the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, and Menendez’ fellow senator from New Jersey, Cory Booker, joined the call.

Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, said on Wednesday Menendez’ behavior fell below the standard appropriate for a senator, but stopped short of calling for him to resign.

Prosecutors have said Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, accepted gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for using their influence to interfere with law enforcement probes of three New Jersey businessmen and aid the Egyptian government.

They pleaded not guilty in court on Wednesday.

Menendez’ Senate seat is in play in the 2024 elections. Though New Jersey has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972, his legal troubles could pose problems for his party, which is trying to maintain its narrow control of the chamber. Menendez has drawn one challenger to the seat so far.

U.S. Army Private Travis King arrived at a U.S. military hospital in Texas on Thursday where he will undergo medical evaluations, including for his mental health, following his expulsion from North Korea a day earlier, the Pentagon said.

King, 23, was held in North Korea for over two months after his surprise dash across the heavily militarized border dividing the Korean peninsula.

Details are still scarce about King’s treatment while in North Korean custody and questions remain about why he fled to one of the world’s most reclusive nations.

“He’ll be going through medical screenings, medical evaluations, and then he’ll be meeting with professionals to assess his emotional and mental health,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters.

Singh said she could not put a timetable on the evaluation process, but added that he will be going through the reintegration program for the “immediate future.”

A U.S. military flight carrying King landed at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston at about 0530 GMT, officials said. Television footage showed a group of people leaving a plane at the base at that time.

Army spokesperson Bryce Dubee said King was at the base’s Brooke Army Medical Center.

“The Army’s focus right now is on ensuring the soldier’s well-being and privacy,” Dubee added.

RIGOROUS EXAMINATION
King was expected to undergo a rigorous examination process at the center, where basketball star Brittney Griner was treated in December after a prisoner swap with Russia ended her 10 months in Russian detention. Given patient privacy concerns, the U.S. military may not make the results of those examinations public.

King ran into North Korea from the South on July 18 while on a civilian tour of the border and was immediately taken into North Korean custody.

It was unclear if King will face disciplinary action by the U.S. Army. It has so far not called him a deserter, even though he crossed the border without authorization while on active duty, and it has deferred questions about any punishments King might face.

For its part, North Korea appears to have treated his case as one of illegal immigration.

Its KCNA state news agency said King told Pyongyang he entered North Korea illegally because he was “disillusioned about unequal U.S. society.”

The Swedish government, which represents U.S. interests in North Korea because Washington has no diplomatic presence in the country, retrieved King in North Korea and brought him to China.

The State Department said the U.S. ambassador to Beijing, Nicholas Burns, met King in Dandong, China, a city bordering North Korea. King then flew from there to Shenyang, China, then on to Osan Air Force Base in South Korea, before continuing his voyage back to the United States.

King, who joined the Army in January 2021, faced two allegations of assault in South Korea. He pleaded guilty to assault and destroying public property for damaging a police car during a profanity-laced tirade against Koreans, according to court documents. He had been due to face more disciplinary measures in the United States.

Pyongyang appears to have concluded King’s criminal background made him “unfit” for propaganda purposes, said Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

Keeping him longer, Yang said, could have risked another incident like that of Otto Warmbier, a U.S. college student who died shortly after he was returned to the United States from imprisonment in North Korea.

“So they might have just opted to use it as a chance to highlight themselves as a ‘normal state,’ showing that they are no longer using these detainees for political, diplomatic purposes,” Yang said.

Jenny Town, director of the Washington-based North Korea project 38 North, did not see the incident reopening the door to stalled U.S.-North Korea diplomacy aimed at curbing Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programs, although she said it might reflect slightly improving U.S.-China relations, given China’s cooperation in the return.

Even as King was en route home, North Korea said it had adopted a constitutional amendment to enshrine its policy on nuclear force, and its leader Kim Jong Un pledged to accelerate production of nuclear weapons to deter what he called U.S. provocations.

China’s foreign ministry said North Korea and the United States had requested that China provide assistance for King’s return in a humanitarian spirit.

In July, King had finished serving military detention in Korea and was at the airport awaiting U.S. military transport to his home unit in the U.S. Instead, he left the airport and joined a tour of the border area, where he ran into North Korea despite attempts by South Korean and U.S. guards to stop him.