List of All Articles with Tag 'politics'

SYDNEY Australia's Greens party said on Sunday it would lead a federal parliament inquiry into "price gouging" by

One of the longest-running sagas in recent US political history has come to an end, with Republican George Santos finally being expelled from the US House of Representatives. The embattled Santos was ousted 311-114 in a bipartisan vote on the "overwhelming evidence" that he misused campaign donations. Remarkably, this is only the sixth time a Congressperson has been expelled from the House since it was formed in 1789. The 35-year-old, who has been accused of lying about numerous bizarre claims he has made, said after the vote was confirmed: "The people of the Third District of New York sent me here. If they want me out, you're going to have to go silence those people and go take the hard vote." In almost the immediate aftermath of Santos's expulsion memes about the disgraced politician began circulating across social media with many bidding farewell to the 'messy drama queen' who had a propensity for outlandish statements. Here are some of our favourites. It remains to be seen what Santos will do next but there is no doubt that we haven't heard the last of him. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Discover how Sandra Day O’Connor overcame the odds to become the first female U.S. Supreme Court justice.

President Nixon's foreign affairs guru declared power to be the "ultimate aphrodisiac".

By Juliette Jabkhiro PARIS A special tribunal on Wednesday ruled that French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti did not

The UK and Spain are close to agreeing a deal on the post-Brexit status of Gibraltar, the Spanish foreign minister has indicated. A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said Lord Cameron had underlined the UK’s desire to get “a UK-EU treaty on Gibraltar as soon as possible” during his discussion with counterpart Jose Manuel Albares. Mr Albares first revealed he had been in crunch talks with Rishi Sunak’s new foreign secretary David Cameron on resolving the long-running row over trade and immigration arrangements. He told Spanish media that he had spoken with Lord Cameron over the phone on Monday, and they had also agreed to meet in person during a Brussels summit on Tuesday. The Spanish minister suggested the outline of a deal was now in place for a “zone of shared prosperity” in the Spanish area next to the British territory to avoid a hard border on the flow of people and goods. “I would sign a deal with Britain over Gibraltar tomorrow,” Mr Albares told the television channel Telecinco – saying both sides “agree that we have to move forward as soon as possible”. A UK-EU deal on arrangements for Gibraltar’s border – primarily on trade and free movement – was not struck in time for the Brexit deal worked out by Boris Johnson’s government. Conservative ministers have been nervous about signing any bilateral deal that could be viewed as reducing British influence over the territory. The Spanish foreign ministry has said the deal would allow Spain to use the Schengen agreement – which allows for the free movement of EU citizens around the bloc – to ease controls on the movement of people. Spain, the UK and the EU have previously agreed to the principle that Gibraltar should remain part of EU agreements on free movement. Mr Albares suggested the UK was also now keen on a frictionless border when it comes to the movement of goods – something akin to the thorny arrangements for Northern Ireland His ministry said a “zone of shared prosperity” deal would see limited checks “without increasing the risks for the EU internal market” – meaning the UK would have to agree to alignment on Brussels regulations. The Spanish foreign minister told reporters in Brussels: “I think this deal … is better for everyone than the application of European legislation after British citizens democratically decided to leave the European Union.” “There’s already been political will on the part of the Spanish government for many months,” Mr Albares said on the “generous and balanced deal on the table”. He added: “What’s needed now is that political will on the part of the United Kingdom to move forward decisively, which is what I’ve seen so far. But we won’t know until the end. Nothing will be agreed until it’s all agreed.” Despite optimism that a deal is now close, there was no word from Lord Cameron’s team on the prospects of an agreement being signed within days. Britain’s decision to leave the EU was very unpopular in the British overseas territory, where thousands of people cross the border with Spain every day for work. Just over 95 per cent of the territory’s population voted to stay in the EU in the 2016 referendum. The territory’s business leaders have been keen for a deal to be struck. Brian Reyes, editor of the Gibraltar Chronicle wrote: “Seven years on [from the Brexit referendum], the Brexit levanter still hangs over our heads.” Meanwhile, Lord Cameron is expected to try to meet EU Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic during his Brussels summit visit – his first trip to the EU capital since his fateful Brexit referendum. The foreign secretary is reportedly ready to raise the issue of post-Brexit tariffs set to be imposed on the automobile industry into force in January if he meets Mr Sefcovic this week. Mr Sunak’s government is pushing the EU Commission to agree to delay the costly new “rules of origin” set to damage the electric vehicle (EV) market due to come in at the start of 2024 as part of Mr Johnson’s trade deal. The Independent has contacted Lord Cameron’s team and the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for comment. Read More ‘History and justice’ on side of Greek claim to Elgin Marbles, says minister Brexit red tape risks extending inflation crisis, retailers warn ‘Terrible legacy’ left by death of Bloody Sunday Parachute Regiment commander Hamas to release more hostages as thousands set for Gaza ceasefire march Lord Cameron says UK needs to engage with China Israeli safety depends on long-term Palestinian ‘security’, warns Cameron

SYDNEY New Zealand's new government will introduce legislation to reform the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's mandate and

Elon Musk has been criticised for seemingly attempting to resurrect the widely debunked QAnon conspiracy theory, “Pizzagate”. Pizzagate was an anti-Hillary Clinton conspiracy theory promoted on 4chan, Reddit, Twitter and other platforms in the final days before the 2016 US presidential election, and is seen as a precursor to the QAnon movement. Believers accused then presidential hopeful Ms Clinton and other senior Democrats of running a child sex trafficking ring out of the basement of a Washington DC pizza restaurant. The conspiracy theory led to a shooting at the restaurant – which turned out not to have a basement. On Tuesday the billionaire tech entrepreneur shared a meme from from the US television comedy The Office on his social media platform X on Tuesday, which accused the “experts” that had debunked the theory of themselves being paedophiles. The post, which was not labelled with a correctional “community note”, made reference to former ABC journalist James Gordon Meek who pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse image charges earlier this year. “Does seem at least a little bit suspicious,” Mr Musk wrote, also linking to an article about Meek’s guilty plea. Other X users suggested that Mr Musk had fallen for a fake New York Post headline which was circulated on the platform that associated Meek with the debunking of Pizzagate. The former journalist was not involved in the exposing of the conspiracy theory, according to a fact check by the Reuters news agency. “So... Community notes? He’s just wildly transparent,” wrote one user. Another added: “Man who controls Twitter/X and, while we’re on it, a majority of the earth’s satellites, among other things, sharing a *wildly* debunked conspiracy theory. “We don’t just have "experts" – we *know* it was invented on 4chan. This is flirting with some incredibly dangerous stuff.” Shayan Sardarizadeh, of the BBC Verify team, wrote in response: “The meme shared by Elon Musk about the pizzagate conspiracy theory is itself based on the completely false claim… “... that James Gordon Meek, a journalist who recently pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography, had debunked pizzagate. Meek never reported on pizzagate.” Another BBC disinformation journalist, Alistair Coleman added: “Your regular reminder that Pizzagate was created as a joke on a 4Chan message board, but spread because far too many people on social media aren’t particularly good at critical thinking. And here we are.” By Tuesday lunchtime Mr Musk had apparently deleted the tweet. It comes shortly after another online post by Mr Musk that attempted to link the founder of Media Matters – a left-leaning non-profit group that has accused X of promoting adverts from global companies alongside pro-Hitler content – to the owner of the Pizzagate restaurant. Earlier this month, a slew of big brands, including Disney and IBM, decided to stop advertising on X after a report by Media Matters said ads were appearing alongside pro-Nazi content and white nationalist posts. Mr Musk boosted a post rehashing the claims of links between the company and the restaurant owner by replying to it, with the one-word phrase: “Weird.” Self-described “free-speech absolutist” Mr Musk has also come under fire on multiple occasions recently over content promoting antisemitism on the site, sparking outrage over his own posts and comments which have promoted antisemitic content. On Wednesday November 15, Mr Musk described a post that said a post, had appeared to push the “great replacement” conspiracy theory on X, was “the actual truth”. The post claimed that Jewish communities “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them”. “You have said the actual truth,” Mr Musk wrote, a response which earned him praise from white nationalist Nick Fuentes – and accusations of antisemitism from dozens more, including the White House. He later responded to the accusations of antisemitism, insisting “nothing could be further from the truth”. Following the controversies, Mr Musk visited Israel on Monday, where he toured a kibbutz attacked by Hamas militants and held talks with top leaders. The billionaire met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who scolded him over content on his platform, and joined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a tour of the Kfar Azza kibbutz, a rural village that Hamas militants stormed on 7 October in a deadly assault that launched the war. “The platforms you lead, unfortunately, have a huge reservoir of hatred, hatred of Jews and antisemitism,” Mr Herzog told him. Read More Elon Musk amplifies Pizzagate conspiracy theory Trump says Pence trying to ‘curry favour’ with DoJ over Jan 6: Live House has two days to respond to official motion to expel George Santos Trump says Pence trying to ‘curry favour’ with DoJ over Jan 6: Live House has two days to respond to official motion to expel George Santos Rosalynn Carter’s memorial service to be attended by Jimmy and fellow first ladies

By Alexandra Valencia QUITO Ecuador's Vice President Veronica Abad said on Tuesday she will travel to Israel to

(Refiles with change to headline) By Pawel Florkiewicz, Gergely Szakacs and Marc Jones WARSAW/BUDAPEST The central bank governors

BERLIN German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will convene car executives with ministerial leaders, energy executives and unions on Monday

By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA Brazil's Senate took the lead on Wednesday to curb what lawmakers see as judicial