Category: Politics

{House Speaker Paul Ryan refuses to endorse Trump, saying presumptive presidential nominee must do more to unite party.}

The Republican party is facing a divide, with party leader Paul Ryan refusing to support Donald Trump as the party’s presidential nominee, insisting that the businessman must do more to unite the party.

Appearing on CNN’s show The Lead, Ryan, the speaker of the House of Representatives, said on Thursday that many Republicans wanted to see “a standard-bearer who bears our standards” and “unifies all the wings of the Republican Party”.

“I’m just not ready to do that at this point. I’m not there right now,” the Wisconsin Republican said.

It comes two days after Trump essentially clinched the nomination with a commanding win in Indiana that forced his last two opponents – Ted Cruz and John Kasich – from the race.

Trump, who has become party’s presumptive presidential nominee, responded by saying he is not ready to support Ryan’s agenda either.

“Perhaps in the future we can work together,” the billionaire businessman added.

{{Unifying the party
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Ryan is not the only one to have aired opposition to Trump. Former Presidents George H W Bush and George W Bush and several other senior Republicans have refused to back the real estate mogul.

But Indiana Governor Mike Pence and former Texas Governor Rick Perry threw their weight behind the presidential nominee.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, however, said that Ryan and Trump will work out their differences after he spoke to both of them.

The highly unusual salvos between the likely White House nominee and the House speaker came at a moment when all involved would normally be turning from the primaries to unifying the party for November’s elections.

Ryan, his party’s 2012 vice presidential nominee, had been seen as a possible “white knight” candidate who could emerge as an alternative to Trump at a contested convention slated to be held in July. He called a press conference last month to rule himself out.

Trump’s Indiana victory pushed him to 1,047 delegates. He needs 1,237 to clinch the nomination.

{Ruling Workers’ Party is holding its first meeting in 36 years, as leader Kim Jong-un seeks to cement his absolute rule.}

North Korea is holding its first party congress in nearly 40 years, as leader Kim Jong-un seeks to cement his absolute rule in the isolated country.

The congress drew thousands of selected delegates from across the country to the capital, Pyongyang, for what, in theory at least, was a gathering of North Korea’s top decision-making body.

The 33-year-old Kim, who was not even born when the last Workers’ Party Congress was held in 1980, was expected to deliver a keynote address which will be minutely scrutinised for any policy shift or personnel changes in the governing elite.

The 1980 gathering was staged to crown Kim’s father Kim Jong-Il as heir apparent to his own father, the North’s founding leader Kim Il-Sung.

Kim Jong Il, who died in December 2011, never held a party congress of his own.

Kim may decide to take on the post of party general secretary, a position held by his late father, elevating himself from first secretary.

“It is now his era, and the elders have passed away, and the idea will be that if he remains first secretary, then he might think he won’t get enough respect because of that,” said An Chan-il, a former North Korean military official who now heads a think-tank in Seoul.

Hidden state: Inside North Korea

The current congress was understood to have begun on Friday morning inside the imposing April 25 Palace, whose facade was adorned with huge portraits of the two late leaders, along with giant red and gold ruling party banners.

At the congress, Kim is expected to declare North Korea a nuclear weapons state and formally adopt his “Byongjin” policy to push simultaneously for economic development and nuclear capability.

It follows Kim’s father’s Songun or “military first” policy and his grandfather’s Juche, the North’s home-grown founding ideology that combines Marxism and extreme nationalism.

“Let’s uphold Great Comrade Kim Jong-un’s Songun revolutionary leadership with patriotism!,” one banner read.

North Korea has conducted a series of weapons tests, including three failed launches of an intermediate-range missile, in the run-up to the Workers’ Party congress.

Kim has aggressively pursued nuclear weapons and could be looking to a successful fifth test this week as a crowning achievement, analysts told Reuters news agency.

South Korea, meanwhile, has expressed concern that Pyongyang could conduct a nuclear test during the rare event.

Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from Seoul, said the lack of any significant Chinese presence in the congress is a sign that North Korea’s relationship with its main benefactor is also strained as a result of Kim’s nuclear ambitions.

“In 1980, China sent one of the chief members of its communist party to North Korea to give weight to the Workers Party Congress held by Kim’s father,” Fawcett said, “This time there appears to be no such delegation. Even no such invitation from North Korea.

“North Korea has been pursuing a viable nuclear weapon. This has greatly upset China. They even signed up to the tougher sanctions by the UN.”

North Korea has invited foreign media to cover the congress, although journalists’ movements are closely managed and much of the country and its people remain off-limits to outsiders.

Security has been stepped up ahead of the key event, which, a South Korean official said, is expected to last four or five days.

{The UK would be “better off without” the European Union, US presidential hopeful Donald Trump has said.}

He told Fox News the migration crisis had been a “horrible thing for Europe” and blamed the EU for driving it.

The Republican said he was not making a “recommendation” but his “feeling” was that the UK should vote to sever ties with the EU in its 23 June referendum.

Democratic President Barack Obama expressed support for the UK remaining in the EU last month.

Mr Trump, who has emerged as the Republican presumptive nominee for the US presidency, told Fox News: “I think the migration has been a horrible thing for Europe, a lot of that was pushed by the EU.

“I would say [the UK] are better off without [the EU], personally, but I’m not making that as a recommendation, just my feeling.

“I know Great Britain very well, I know the country very well, I have a lot of investments there.”

He added: “I want them to make their own decision.”

In April, Mr Obama said Britain would go to the “back of the queue” for trade deals with the US if it votes to leave the European Union, sparking anger among Leave campaigners in the UK.

He said Britain was at its best when “helping to lead” a strong EU and membership made it a “bigger player” on the world stage.

{Path clear for controversial billionaire as main rivals Cruz and Kasich bow out of race for US presidential nomination.}

Donald Trump has gone from long-shot contender to the Republican party’s presumptive nominee for president with a crushing win in Indiana that forced his main rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich out of the race.

Addressing jubilant supporters at Trump Tower in New York after romping to his seventh straight state-wide victory, the real estate mogul promised them: “We’re going to win in November, and we’re going to win big, and it’s going to be America first.”

Kasich announced he dropped out of the Republican presidential race on Wednesday evening.

Trump won at least 51 of 57 possible delegates awarded in Indiana, according to the Associated Press news agency delegate tracker. His victory in the state pushed him to 1,047 delegates of the 1,237 needed to clinch the nomination, compared with 153 for Kasich.

Cruz had 565 delegates before suspending his campaign.

“This phenomenon is just amazing,” Peter Mathews, a political analyst, told Al Jazeera. “Trump seems to have got free television time. He got an estimated $1bn of free time during the election.”

Trump’s immediate challenge is to unite deep fissures within the Republican Party as many party loyalists are appalled at his bullying style, his treatment of women and his signature proposals to build a wall on the border with Mexico and deport 11 million illegal immigrants.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called Trump the party’s presumptive nominee in a tweet and said, “We all need to unite and focus” on defeating Clinton.

The former reality TV star himself called for unity in a speech at a victory rally that was free of his usual bombast and flamboyance.

Calling Indiana a “tremendous victory”, he immediately directed fire at Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

“We’re going after Hillary Clinton,” he said. “She will not be a great president, she will not be a good president, she will be a poor president. She doesn’t understand trade.”

Clinton upset

Clinton on Tuesday suffered an upset in Indiana as her rival Bernie Sanders mounted a come-from-behind victory, denying the former secretary of state a feather in her cap as she seeks their party’s presidential nomination.

Sanders, a self-declared socialist, beat Clinton by 53.2 percent to 46.8 percent with about three quarters of precincts reporting – although Clinton remained well ahead in the overall delegate battle for the nomination.

“Bernie Sanders was behind several points just a few weeks ago. Thousands were turning up to his rallies even in thunderstorms to hear what he had to say,” Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, reporting from Indianapolis, said.

“A narrow victory in Indiana is enough to re-inject his campaign with momentum and for him to say that he is going to take it all the way to Democratic convention in Philadelphia in the summer.”

As the race was called overwhelmingly in Trump’s favour, Cruz conceded to supporters in Indianapolis that he no longer had a viable path forwards.

“We left it all on the field in Indiana,” Cruz said. “We gave it everything we’ve got, but the voters chose another path.

“And so with a heavy heart, but with boundless optimism for the long-term future of our nation, we are suspending our campaign.”

Al Jazeera’s Fisher said that Indiana had become a pivotal point in the race.

“On the Republican side, Cruz lost the primary by a significant margin. His appeal to voters simply did not work,” he said.

Trump, who has never held public office, is likely to formally wrap up the nomination on June 7 when California votes, although Ohio Governor John Kasich had vowed to stay in the race as his last challenger.

{Senator tasked with reviewing president’s impeachment process recommends she be put on trial for breaking budget laws.}

The senator tasked with reviewing Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment process has recommended that she be put on trial for breaking budget laws, bringing the leftist leader one step closer to suspension from office.

Senator Antonio Anastasia presented his findings to a 21-member Senate impeachment committee, which is expected to vote overwhelmingly on Friday to send his recommendation to the full chamber.

The Senate is due to vote on May 11 to try Rousseff, at which point she will be automatically suspended, pending a trial that could last up to 180 days.

Vice President Michel Temer will take over as acting president and, if Rousseff is convicted, he will serve out the remainder of her term through 2018.

Request for investigation

Brazilian media has also reported a leaked request by chief prosecutor Rodrigo Janot for the Supreme Court to authorise an investigation into Rousseff, ex-president Lula da Silva and other close allies over their alleged involvement in a vast corrupton network centred on state oil giant Petrobas.

Janot’s reported request for the corruption probe names 31 politicians and other figures, also including opponents of Rousseff, illustrating the way that the Petrobras embezzlement and bribery scheme allegedly spread throughout the ruling class.

But the request has yet to be confirmed by officials.

Dozens of people have already been charged, prosecuted or imprisoned, including some of the country’s richest men and leaders of all political stripes in Congress.

Rousseff has not been named in any direct corruption charges, although she was chairman of Petrobras during much of the time the scheme was under way.

{Agreement reached between Russia and US to extend ceasefire in Syria to the besieged city of Aleppo, US officials say.}

An agreement has been reached with Russia to extend a ceasefire in Syria to Aleppo province, including the besieged city of Aleppo, the US State Department said.

The expansion went into effect on Wednesday just after midnight in Damascus (02:00 GMT), the State Department said, noting an “overall decrease in violence” since then despite some continued fighting.

“Since this went into effect today at 00:01 in Damascus, we have seen an overall decrease in violence in these areas,” spokesman Mark Toner said.

The Syrian army confirmed the ceasefire, saying there would be a “regime of calm” in Aleppo for 48 hours, Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin told the UN Security Council.

Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington DC, said that the announcement was delayed because “officials wanted to see how long it would take for the ceasefire to come into effect.

“They decided to announce it now because they believe that the ceasefire is holding.”

The US is coordinating with Russia to finalise monitoring efforts for the ceasefire and calls on all parties to abide by the agreement.

“We look to Russia as a co-chair of the International Syria Support Group to press for the Assad regime’s compliance with this effort, and the United States will do its part with the opposition,” the State Department statement said.

‘War crimes, crimes against humanity’

The United Nations Humanitarian Affairs chief Stephen O’Brien told the UN Security Council that the killing of civilians in Aleppo “cannot and will not be forgotten”, warning that perpetrators will be held accountable.

O’Brien gave a rundown of deadly incidents in which residential areas, medical facilities and ambulances were targeted by government war planes and non-state shelling.

“Some of these acts amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity,” O’Brien said in New York.

Activists and rebels said at least 250 people have been killed in the fighting in Aleppo in the past 10 days.

On Wednesday, dozens of people were killed in a day-long battle in western Aleppo that was still going on intermittently, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and sources on both sides said.

Sources loyal to the Syrian government gave conflicting accounts of the outcome of the battle that began early on Tuesday in and around the Jamiat al-Zahraa area of western Aleppo.

A rebel told AP news agency that fighters had managed to take some ground from the government side, while the army said the attack was repelled.

Aid delivery blocked

UN humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said on Wednesday that the Syrian government had refused UN demands to deliver aid to hundreds of thousands of people, including many in violence-torn Aleppo.

Aleppo has seen fierce fighting between the warring sides in the past two weeks after government forces began targeting the city.

“We seem to be having new possible besieged areas on our watch. We are having hundreds of relief workers unable to move in Aleppo,” Egeland told reporters on Wednesday after chairing a weekly meeting of nations supporting the Syria peace process.

“It is a disgrace to see that while the population of Aleppo is bleeding, their options to flee have never been more difficult than now.”