Adam Hinojosa flips Texas Senate seat, becomes first Republican to represent Rio Grande Valley district since Reconstruction
Hinojosa won the only competitive seat in the Texas Senate this cycle, besting Sen. Morgan LaMantia two years after she narrowly defeated him.
Trump-hating NY Attorney General Letitia James, governor rip Trump: ‘prepared to fight back’
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James, who’ve spent years prosecuting and disparaging Donald Trump, vowed to fight back against any potential “revenge or retribution” that may be coming their way now that President-elect Trump will be returning to the White House. Hochul offered congratulations to Trump during a press conference on Wednesday while also commending his opponent, Vice President Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for a “hard-fought campaign that really lifted up so many issues that matter to Americans.” She acknowledged that the results may not have been what many had hoped for but reassured her constituents that New York has overcome hard times before. “That’s why I have the confidence in my team and all those we work closely with that we will get through the uncertainty of a new administration in Washington because, as I said, we’ve done this before,” Hochul said. “I want to be very clear that while we honor the results of this election and will work with anyone who wants to be a partner in achieving the goals of our administration in our state, that does not mean we’ll accept an agenda from Washington that strips away the rights that New Yorkers have long enjoyed.” FORMER AIDE TO NEW YORK GOV HOCHUL, WHO IS ACCUSED OF BEING CHINESE SPY, WENT ON A TOUR OF THE WHITE HOUSE The governor reminded the public that New York is the birthplace of the women’s rights movement, the environmental justice movement, the LGBTQ rights movement and the American labor movement, saying the state will continue to be a “bastion” of freedom and the rule of law. She also announced the establishment of the Empire State Freedom Initiative, which will focus on areas Hochul and other state officials believe could face threats from the Trump administration. She said the initiative will offer protections for reproduction rights, civil rights, immigration, gun safety, labor rights, LGBTQ rights and environmental justice. “Our team will do whatever we have to do to identify any possible threats to these rights that we hold dear in the state of New York and protect New Yorkers,” Hochul said. “This will include legislation, rulemaking, appropriations and partnerships with our congressional delegation and including the Biden administration at this time.” SHOCK NUMBER: TRUMP HAS HIGHER APPROVAL RATING IN DEEP BLUE STATE THAN ITS GOVERNOR She called on Trump to support New York’s ongoing efforts to obtain funding for major critical infrastructure with the MTA and to back economic development projects like those funded by the Chips and Science Act. “I will work with him or anybody, regardless of party, on these kind of efforts that I know will benefit the state of New York,” Hochul said. “However, if you try to harm New Yorkers or rollback their rights, I will fight you every step of the way. New Yorkers are resilient. We fought the first time around, and we’ll fight again.” James also congratulated Trump on his win, but not without spite. She told the people of New York that she and other state officials would work with Trump and his administration “if possible” but without compromising the state’s integrity or principles. HARRIS NOW THE SECOND DEM CANDIDATE TO LOSE TO TRUMP AND NOT SPEAK TO SUPPORTERS ELECTION NIGHT “We did not expect this result, but we are prepared to respond to this result. And my office has been preparing for several months because we’ve been here before,” James said. “We faced this challenge before, and we used the rule of law to fight back. And we are prepared to fight back once again because, as the attorney general of this great state, it is my job to protect and defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law. And I will not shrink from that responsibility.” Between 2019 and 2021, James said, her office took nearly 100 legal actions against Trump’s previous administration, including when he attempted to put a cap on state and local taxes and tried to eliminate funds and grants for law enforcement officials in New York. James said her office also fought to protect the Affordable Care Act, prevent a question about citizenship from being on the census, and put a stop to the dismantling of the U.S. Postal Service, among other things. She also said she knows the Trump administration’s playbook and has a contingency plan in place to respond to any attack on the state. “We’re ready to respond to any attempts to cut or eliminate any funding to the great state of New York, as the governor outlined,” James said. “So, despite what has happened on the national stage, we will continue to stand tall in the face of injustice, revenge or retribution. “This is not the time to be fearful, New York, but faithful and steadfast, knowing that I, as the attorney general, along with my entire team, we are guardians of the law, and we are prepared, my friends, to fight back,” she added. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the matter.
Harris formally concedes one day after Trump’s sweeping victory
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris, in her first public comments since losing the 2024 White House race to former President Trump, urged supporters to “accept the results.” But Harris on Wednesday afternoon emphasized that “while I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign.” The vice president spoke at Howard University, her alma mater, where her campaign held a large election night watch party. Harris never addressed the crowd on Tuesday night, as initial optimism about the election turned dour as the clock struck past midnight. Trump ended up winning a sweeping electoral and popular vote victory over Harris, as Republicans won back the Senate for the first time in four years. Meanwhile, control of the House was still up for grabs on the day after the election. CLICK HERE FOR FOX NEWS 2024 ELECTION UPDATES The vice president, who walked to the podium one last time to Beyonce’s “Freedom,” the song that had become Harris’ unofficial anthem, noted near the top of her roughly 12-minute address that “my heart is full today.” “The outcome of this election is not what we hoped, not what we fought, not what we voted for,” she said. “But hear when I say… the light of America’s promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting.” HOW TRUMP WON: THE DETAILS FROM THE FOX NEWS VOTER ANALYSIS The vice president also seemed to take aim at Trump, who for four years has blamed his 2020 White House loss to President Biden on unproven claims of a “rigged election” and who repeatedly tried unsuccessfully to overturn the results. “Earlier today I spoke with President-elect Trump and congratulated him on his victory,” Harris said. “I also told him we will help him and his team with their transition and that we will engage in a peaceful transfer of power.” She emphasized that “a fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we lose an election, we accept the results… anyone who seeks the public trust must honor it.” The vice president also stressed that “we owe loyalty not to a president or a party but to the Constitution of the United States.” Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and U.S. senator, ran unsuccessfully for the 2020 presidential nomination. But Biden named his primary rival as his running mate and the two have spent the past four years steering the nation. TRUMP’S VICTORY CALLED ‘GREATEST POLITICAL COMEBACK’ Harris, for most of the 2024 election cycle, was the dutiful running mate as Biden bid for a second four-year term in the White House. But everything changed in late June, due to Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump. The 81-year-old Biden’s halting and stumbling delivery fueled questions about his physical and mental ability to serve another four years in the White House. And it sparked calls from within the Democratic Party for Biden to drop out of the White House race. The president finally succumbed to the pressure and on July 21, in a blockbuster announcement that rocked the 2024 election, Biden ended his bid and endorsed his vice president. The Democratic Party quickly coalesced around Harris, who instantly enjoyed a jump in the polls and a massive surge in fundraising. The Harris honeymoon continued through the late August Democratic National Convention and into September, when most pundits declared her the winner of the one and only presidential debate between her and Trump. But as the calendar moved from September into October, Trump appeared to regain his footing, and public opinion surveys indicated the former president gaining momentum. Then, in the final days of the campaign, the mood and the vibe appeared to switch again, this time to Harris, who closed out her White House bid on a positive note and didn’t mention Trump’s name during the last 48 hours leading up to Election Day. Meanwhile, Trump struck a more negative and angrier tone on the campaign trail as he crisscrossed the key battleground states in the stretch run. But the former president ended up with a sweeping victory, as Americans returned him to the White House. Preliminary data from the Fox News Voter Analysis of the 2024 election pointed to a political realignment, as it spotlighted that Trump ran up the score with his MAGA base while narrowing traditional Democratic advantages among Black, Hispanic and young voters. Harris came close in her bid to become the first woman elected to the presidency, but was unable to make enough gains in the ideological middle of the electorate to offset defections among groups that traditionally vote Democratic. The Fox News Voter Analysis is a survey of more than 110,000 voters nationwide which highlights the 2024 campaign’s key dynamics. Just as damaging: Harris wasn’t able to escape the massive unpopularity of the Biden/Harris administration, where polls indicated that nearly three quarters of voters said the country was on the wrong track. The Fox News Voter Analysis spotlighted that in an election where voters across the nation wanted change, they chose Trump’s outsider appeal over Harris’ promise to “turn the page” on the Trump era. Fox News’ Dana Blanton and Victoria Balara contributed to this report Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Trump makes gains with some Puerto Ricans this election despite controversial ‘garbage’ joke
The controversial “floating garbage” joke about Puerto Rico made by a comedian at a rally for Republican President-elect Donald Trump during the final days before the election may not have had the negative effect on Trump’s support from Puerto Ricans that critics expected it would. Despite the backlash from the quip made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at a Trump rally in New York City roughly a week before Tuesday, Trump still won several Florida counties with the state’s largest concentration of Puerto Ricans, which he lost in both 2020 and 2016. Osceola County, which is home to the largest concentration of Puerto Ricans in the Sunshine State based on census data, voted in favor of Trump on Tuesday night after voting Democrat in the last two elections in which Trump ran. Meanwhile, Miami-Dade and Hillsborough counties, two other districts with a significant population of Puerto Ricans that Trump lost in 2020 and 2016, also went for Trump this time around. Trump not only garnered significant support in Florida’s counties with large Puerto Rican populations, the U.S. territory also chose a candidate who is a Trump ally as its next governor. AOC SLAPPED WITH COMMUNITY NOTE AFTER CLAIMING MASSIVE PUERTO RICAN RALLY HAD TO DO WITH ANTI-TRUMP MOVEMENT Questions about how Trump would fare with the Latino electorate began swirling in the lead-up to Election Day after Hinchcliffe created a firestorm after appearing at a Trump rally and telling a joke that likened Puerto Rico to a “floating pile of garbage.” “Comments like these motivate us. Latinos aren’t a group to be underestimated, especially when it comes to our impact at the ballot box,” Ana Valdez, the CEO of a Latino nonprofit, told Newsweek ahead of Tuesday’s election. “We expect this weekend’s comments to drive even more turnout in Latino-heavy states like Arizona, Nevada and Florida.” Meanwhile, an unidentified female voter of Puerto Rican descent spoke to CNN on Election Day and was asked how Hinchcliffe’s joke may have affected who she chose to support. The voter said the joke did not sit right with her but concluded that “at the end of the day” she wanted to vote for who will give her “a better life in the future,” regardless of such comments. The voter added that this was a decision she and her family came together on. I’M PUERTO RICAN AND KAMALA HARRIS WOULD CONTINUE DEMOCRAT DESTRUCTION OF THE ISLAND Furthermore, other Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania told Fox News that Hinchcliffe’s joke did not impact their support for Trump either, even though one of their state lawmakers insisted it would have an “undeniable impact” on the election’s results. In addition to the ground Trump gained among Puerto Rican voters this election, Puerto Rico’s four-way gubernatorial race ended with a victory by Trump ally Jenniffer González-Colón, who was previously the nonvoting delegate to Congress for the territory. Hispanics overall were significantly less supportive of 2024 Democrat presidential nominee Vice President Harris than they were of President Biden in 2020. While a majority of Hispanic voters supported Harris over Trump, the vice president’s eight-point margin of victory on Tuesday paled to Biden’s 33-point margin of victory over Trump in 2020.
Teary-eyed Nancy Pelosi arrives to see Kamala Harris concede presidential race at Howard University
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared somber and teary-eyed while waiting to see defeated candidate Vice President Harris make a concession speech on Wednesday. Arriving at Howard University on Wednesday afternoon, Pelosi was photographed greeting Harris supporters while appearing tearful. In a particularly emotional picture, Pelosi pouted as if just about to weep, and had watery eyes. Other pictures showed Pelosi smiling at the event and mingling with attendees. Harris’ concession speech comes after a historic neck-and-neck presidential race ended with a Trump victory early Wednesday morning. While the election was expected to be a toss-up, the scope of Trump’s victory shocked both sides of the political aisle. MONTAGE: LIBERAL MEDIA PUNDITS PREDICTED KAMALA HARRIS VICTORY Pelosi and Trump have a great deal of enmity towards each other, regularly insulting each other in public. During a speech in Grand Rapids, Michigan, this week, Trump described Pelosi as something that “starts with a B.” “She’s an evil, sick, crazy…,” the Republican candidate said, stopping short. “It starts with a B, but I won’t say it. I wanna say it.” Pelosi has returned the jabs back to Trump in the past, and recently claimed that he was suffering from “cognitive degeneration” during a recent appearance on MSNBC. HARRIS WILL NOT SPEAK FROM HOWARD UNIVERSITY ON ELECTION NIGHT AS PLANNED “[Voters] have to know that he can’t last as president for four years with his brain deteriorating at the rate that it is … and they may be voting for President Vance, which would be a horrible thing for our country,” Pelosi claimed. In response, the Trump campaign insulted Pelosi in a statement to Fox News Digital. “The only thing deteriorating is Nancy Pelosi who is a decrepit washed up corrupt politician who America can no longer stand,” Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “She should go back to the City of San Francisco, which she has totally destroyed, and never return.” Fox News Digital reached out to Pelosi’s office for comment, but did not immediately hear back. Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.
‘Should have been Josh Shapiro’: Harris’ VP contenders passed over for Walz dodge massive campaign loss
A handful of Democrats previously in the running to land on the presidential ticket as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate dodged the campaign’s massive loss to President-elect Donald Trump. Trump sailed to the 270 needed electoral votes to lock down the win, and Harris conceded the race Wednesday afternoon in a call to Trump. She is also slated to address the nation later Wednesday regarding her defeat. In addition to Trump and the dozens of congressional and gubernatorial incumbents and candidates across both political parties who notched victories, Democrats in Harris’ orbit who were floated as vice presidential contenders also emerged as winners for not joining the Democratic ticket. Harris courted a number of potential VPs in her truncated campaign window after President Biden dropped out of the race over the summer and ultimately chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to join her on the ticket. The elected officials Harris passed over for VP emerged as winners this cycle. Their political star status rose during Harris’ vetting process, yet they bypassed direct involvement with the Democratic Party’s massive loss to the former president Harris slammed as a “Nazi” and “fascist.” HARRIS’ TOP VP OPTIONS ALL HAVE DRAWBACKS THAT COULD TAKE THEM OUT OF CONTENTION HARRIS WORLD BLAME GAME BEGINS AFTER CRUSHING LOSS TO TRUMP Democratic Keystone State Gov. Josh Shapiro was touted as a highly likely pick for VP over the summer, before Democrats converged on Chicago for the DNC in August. Pennsylvania was again a top battleground state this election cycle, with pundits viewing the state as the likely decider for the overall outcome of the election. Pennsylvania ultimately voted for Trump and moved him across the finish line. The popular first-term governor was viewed as a potential key for the Harris campaign to reach the coveted 270 electoral votes to lock up the election. Shapiro, who is Jewish, was also touted as a potential bridge for the Harris campaign to court Jewish voters amid backlash over her previous comments defending anti-Israel protesters who rocked college campuses last year during the war in Israel. Harris snubbed Shapiro in favor of Walz, who was relatively unknown to the public outside of Minnesota and Washington, D.C., before becoming Harris’ running mate. HERE’S WHERE THE VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES STAND ON TOP ISSUES ”You oughta ask yourself why didn’t she pick Josh Shapiro as her VP?” Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said during an appearance on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo just ahead of Election Day. “The answer is, in today’s Democrat Party, they could not stomach a candidate who was Jewish.” Now that the presidential election is over, Shapiro could make a run on his own for the White House in the future after his name recognition grew on the national level this year and due to him being from the top battleground state of this year’s cycle. Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly was also floated as a running mate contender, and pundits and political insiders touted him as a well-known candidate with national star status as a retired NASA astronaut. Kelly is also married to retired Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt in 2011 and has since become a well-known gun control activist. LIBERAL TEARS AFTER HARRIS LOSS CONJURES UP MEMORIES OF 2016 CLINTON DEFEAT Kelly also avoided attaching his name directly to the failed 2024 Democratic ticket, instead focusing on his Senate term. Kelly notably flipped late Republican Sen. John McCain’s Senate seat in 2020, notching a historic win for Democrats in the state, and the party holds both Senate seats for the first time since the 1950s. He is now positioned to potentially run for president in the future. “If Mark Kelly wants to run for president in the future, he’s immediately in the small circle of people who have a shot,” political consultant Andy Barr told Axios early this year. Kentucky’s governor, Andy Beshear, has served as the Bluegrass State’s leader since 2019 and was viewed as a centrist Democrat who could have appealed to moderate voters at the federal level if he had joined the Harris ticket. The 46-year-old also could have appealed to younger voters but was sidelined in favor of Walz. MONTAGE: LIBERAL MEDIA PUNDITS PREDICTED KAMALA HARRIS VICTORY Beshear won a second term as governor in the deep red state last year as speculation mounted he could launch a presidential campaign in the future. “I’m sure many people around him are saying, ‘You may have just a perfect formula for a Democrat moving forward’,” Dewey Clayton, a political scientist at the University of Louisville, told the Courier Journal over the summer. On the flip side, the Harris campaign is catching flak from political insiders who say choosing Walz as the VP nominee was a losing prospect, with many arguing Shapiro would have been the best candidate. “As a founding member of She Shoulda Picked Shapiro, I think it’s relatively clear now that she made a mistake,” statistician Nate Silver told The New York Times ahead of Election Day. HARRIS WILL NOT SPEAK FROM HOWARD UNIVERSITY ON ELECTION NIGHT AS PLANNED “Pennsylvania seems to be lagging a little behind the other blue wall states. Meanwhile, Walz was mediocre in the debate, and he’s been mediocre and nervous in his public appearances.” Harris-Walz surrogate Lindy Li told Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich from Howard University that Shapiro would have likely aided the Harris campaign’s efforts to notch a massive victory. “One of the things that are top of mind is the choice of Tim Walz as vice presidential candidate,” Li said. “A lot of people are saying tonight that it should have been Josh Shapiro. Frankly, people have been saying that for months. “I know a lot of people are probably wondering tonight what would have happened had Shapiro been on the ticket,” Li continued. “And not only in terms of Pennsylvania. He’s famously a moderate. So, that would have signaled to the American people that she is
Trump train chugs past 2020 margins, particularly among Hispanics, urban Northeasterners
President-elect Donald Trump is projected to win the 2024 election, greatly weighted by overperformance among key voting blocs, not the least of which is among Hispanics and Latinos. Trump gained six points of support from Hispanics over 2020, leaving Democrats single-digit favorites among the bloc, according to data compiled by the Financial Times and other outlets. Trump flipped Miami-Dade County in Florida, one of the largest Latino communities in the nation, winning it by about 2% more than President Joe Biden did in 2020. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a Republican who represents the southern half of Miami plus the Keys, said it all comes down to “common sense” for Hispanics. PUERTO RICO SHADOW SENATOR BACKS TRUMP AFTER COMIC CONTROVERSY “Hispanics are people of faith, family, hard work, searching for the American dream, and I think those are the values of the Republican Party” he told Fox News Digital. “The Democrat Party has gone way left to the extreme left, almost to the point of socialism. And many of us fled our countries fleeing socialism. And so that doesn’t attract us,” said Gimenez, who is the only Cuban-born congressman. The lawmaker predicted Republicans will only further grow their support among Hispanics and Latinos if trends in both parties continue. In the Northeast, Trump overperformed in several areas — including those overall unfriendly to the GOP. Bronx County, N.Y., which still handily re-elected Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., saw Trump earn 10% more of the vote there than in 2020. The Bronx is also a heavily-Hispanic borough. Of the five boroughs — where only Richmond County, Staten Island, is Republican majority — Trump saw his biggest gains in Bronx County, which edged out Queens by a fraction of a percentage point. He made gains in every borough this year. PENNSYLVANIA’S AMISH ARE A KEY BUT HESITANT CONSERVATIVE VOTING BLOC Westward along I-78, Trump’s coattails helped two Republican challengers in tough swing-district contests. Both Reps. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., in the Poconos and Susan Wild, D-Pa., in the Lehigh Valley, conceded their races Wednesday afternoon to Rob Bresnahan Jr., and state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, respectively. (However, the races still remain officially uncalled by the Associated Press as of Wednesday afternoon.) Trump exceeded expectations in the collection of counties within both areas, as reported by the Financial Times and data from other news outlets. Nearby, the typically voting-hesitant Amish reportedly surged for Trump in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Former President George W. Bush was the only other presidential candidate this century to actively court their vote. A source told the New York Post the anabaptist sect voted in “unprecedented numbers” and that many were energized by government raids on Upper Leacock Township dairy farmer Amos Miller, who was punished for raw milk sales, among other pressures. Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., who was born into the Old Order Amish sect, recently told Fox News Digital he saw energy moving Republicans’ way among the humble, hard-working group. Asian-Americans demonstrated to be the bloc with the largest trend toward Trump this cycle. In California, Los Angeles and Orange counties both saw single-digit trends in Trump’s direction — and both have sizeable Asian-American populations. Data showed a 12-point gain for Trump, leaving overall support in the teens in Democrats’ favor. In fact, Republican margins increased in every state, plus the District of Columbia, except Washington and Utah. Trump gained one percentage point over his 2020 numbers in the nation’s capital. Washington, D.C., however, awarded Trump his widest loss, at 7% to 92%. California, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Connecticut and Mississippi saw the widest gains for Trump over his 2020 numbers, according to data. Pockets of support in blue Philadelphia also helped Trump this cycle. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The two voting blocs where Trump lost support since 2020 were among White college-aged women and senior citizens. The 65 and older age group was evenly split, while the other demographic bloc leaned towards the Democrats by a margin of roughly 20 percentage points. Bright spots for Democrats, where they gained marked support over Biden’s term, were in Jackson County, Missouri, home to Kansas City; Cambria County, Pennsylvania, home to Johnstown; and some suburban counties south of Atlanta and around Seattle. Republicans also overperformed in the South Pacific, where all three U.S. territories will have GOP representation in Congress for the first time ever, according to Newsweek. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
UN agency for Palestinians facing its ‘darkest hour’, UNRWA chief says
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is facing its “darkest hour” and requires ongoing support from UN members after Israel’s decision to ban the organisation, its chief has said. “Without intervention by member states, UNRWA will collapse, plunging millions of Palestinians into chaos,” Philippe Lazzarini, the agency’s commissioner-general, told the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday. He called on the UN – which created UNRWA in 1949 – to prevent implementation of the ban on the organisation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. In a statement on Monday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it cancelled a cooperation agreement from 1967 which provided the legal basis of the country’s relations with UNRWA. “UNRWA – the organisation whose employees participated in the October 7 massacre and many of whose employees are Hamas operatives – is part of the problem in the Gaza Strip and not part of the solution,” said Israel Katz, the country’s newly appointed defence minister, who was foreign minister at the time. In January, Israel claimed that a dozen of UNRWA’s Gaza employees were involved in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas. At the time, the UN launched an investigation into Israel’s allegations and terminated the contracts of nine staff members who were accused. However, Lazzarini said that despite multiple requests, Israel has not provided any evidence to support its claims. UNRWA said it takes measures to ensure its neutrality. But the Israeli ban has raised fears that UNRWA employees will lose their ability to coordinate with Israeli authorities to cross checkpoints and move from one place to another in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. UNRWA provides education, healthcare and other basic services to Palestinian refugees displaced in 1948 during Israel’s creation, and their descendants, who now number nearly six million. Refugee families make up the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million population. “In Gaza, dismantling UNRWA will collapse the UN humanitarian response, which relies heavily on the agency’s infrastructure,” Lazzarini said. “In the absence of a capable public administration or state, only UNRWA can deliver education to more than 650,000 girls and boys in Gaza. In the absence of UNRWA, an entire generation will be denied the right to education,” he said. ‘Time to move on’ Since Israel’s war on Gaza began last October, UNRWA itself has suffered heavy losses, with at least 223 of its staff killed and two-thirds of its facilities in Gaza damaged or destroyed. Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer for the State of Palestine at the UN, told the General Assembly that the ban on UNRWA “is proof of the Israeli genocide in Gaza”. Meanwhile, Hadi Hashim, the interim representative for Lebanon at the UN, said Israel’s ban was a “war crime” and noted that UNRWA was crucial not only in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, but also in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. “We call on the General Assembly to take the necessary and urgent measures legally and politically to stand against this attack not only against UNWRA, but against us all,” he said. Jordan, South Africa and the European Union also condemned the Israeli government’s decision to ban the UN agency. But Israeli ambassador Danny Danon called the agency “a failure”. “UNRWA is shielded by a misconception that it is the backbone of humanitarian efforts in Gaza,” he said. “It is time to move on and build a new path so the UN can regain its integrity and deliver on its promise to support peace and security.” Israeli authorities have long called for the agency to be dismantled, arguing that its mission is obsolete and it fosters anti-Israel sentiment among its staff, in its schools and in its wider social mission. UNRWA strongly disputes this characterisation. In the past, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also called on the United States, Israel’s top ally and the agency’s biggest donor, to roll back its support. Adblock test (Why?)
Kamala Harris calls Donald Trump to concede defeat in US election
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY, Democrat congratulates Republican during phone call, discusses importance of peaceful transfer of power, aide says. Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has called her rival, Republican Donald Trump, to concede defeat in the United States presidential election, a senior aide has said. In Wednesday’s phone call, Harris congratulated Trump and also “discussed the importance of a peaceful transfer of power” and being a president for everyone in the country,” her aide said. Harris is due to deliver remarks in Washington, DC later on Wednesday, her first public speech since her projected loss to Trump in the November 5 race. She was supposed to address the throng of supporters on the campus of her alma mater, Howard University, last night, but late in the evening her campaign director told the tearful crowd waiting outside that she would speak the next day after more results were in. Trump, who has been convicted of felony charges, has comfortably cleared the 270 Electoral-vote threshold required to clinch the White House. Harris, 60, took over the campaign after President Joe Biden stepped down after stumbling badly in a presidential debate with Trump and amid ongoing concerns about his ability to serve until the age of 86. He dropped out of the race on July 21 , endorsed his vice president , and Harris quickly took over the campaign. She was seen among many Democrats as a potential saviour for her party, the first Black woman and the first person of South Asian descent who could reach the Oval Office. Four years ago she broke the same barriers in national office by becoming Biden’s second in command. Harris ran an energetic campaign focused on moving away from Trump’s dark message of economic ruin and immigrants flooding the country. A key platform was women’s reproductive freedom that resonated with many young voters who flocked to her rallies. In the first presidential campaign since the US Supreme Court struck down constitutional protection for abortion rights, the Harris campaign was looking for a surge of support from women. But it wasn’t enough to overcome the deep anger among US voters over high inflation, the cost of basic necessities like food and affordable housing , and worries over undocumented immigration, according to exit polls. Trump’s promise to return to a “golden age” of America saw the key battleground states move decisively away from the Democrats. He is due to take office on January 20, 2025, returning to power as the 47th US president four years after refusing to accept defeat to the incumbent Biden. As the sitting vice president , Harris is expected to oversee Congress’s ceremonial certification of Trump’s win. Biden has also said he will attend the inauguration , unlike Trump in 2021 who snubbed his successor. Adblock test (Why?)
Germany’s far-right AfD to expel members over links to ‘militant’ groups
The political party that made gains in regional polls is defended by its leaders while labelled ‘right-wing extremist’ by Germany’s security services. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party has said it will throw out three of its members who have been arrested on suspicion of having joined an “extremist” paramilitary group. The political party’s announcement comes after eight people were arrested and at least 20 properties were searched during a police operation on Tuesday. The operation targeted the Saxonian Separatists, a group authorities consider a domestic “terrorist organisation”. It was founded in November 2020 and is driven by racist ideology and conspiracy theories. Members had been training in warfare for the downfall of the modern German state before hundreds of police swooped on locations linked to it in eastern Germany, neighbouring Poland, and also in Austria. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Tuesday that the police operations had thwarted “early stage militant coup plans” and investigators noted that the group was planning to establish a new system in the country’s east inspired by Nazism. Der Spiegel magazine reported on Wednesday that Tuesday’s police raids had also uncovered unregistered weapons, munitions – including Kalashnikov cartridges – and silencers, as well as the shell of a mortar grenade. The AfD leadership in the eastern state of Saxony confirmed the exclusion of three party members and partially named them in a statement as Kurt H, Hans-Georg P and Kevin R. A statement from the party said: “No matter on whose behalf the Saxonian Separatists have been operating, there is no place for them in our party of freedom, peace and national sovereignty.” AfD co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla added that an extraordinary meeting of the party leadership would be held on Wednesday with the sole purpose of excluding the three men. In Germany, political parties need to demonstrate a serious violation in order to expel a member. Weidel and Chrupalla said that the AfD stands for “the liberal democratic order and has nothing to do with this suspected neo-Nazi grouping”. Meanwhile, the party’s leader in Saxony, Joerg Urban, said the AfD “rejects any form of violence in political debate” and that “preparations for violent acts or coups are also unacceptable”. In September, the anti-immigrant AfD won regional elections in the eastern state of Thuringia, a first for a far-right party since World War II. It also performed strongly in neighbouring Saxony. But German security services have labelled the party’s local branches in Thuringia and Saxony as “right-wing extremist” and its leader Bjorn Hocke has been fined twice for using Nazi slogans. Adblock test (Why?)