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专栏|夜话中南海:孙志刚应该以死谢罪的是他在贵州强推的“玉米革命”

我们本专栏的上篇文章中已经介绍了上月底才被判处死缓附加终身监禁的中共前贵州省委书记孙志刚进秦城以后,会有17个和他同样下场的中管干部伴他一起终老狱中。这样说的理由是相比他们这18位,此前已经陆续被送进秦城的包括周永康在内的一大票被判处死缓或无期徒刑的大老虎、老老虎们,只要长寿,日后都会有活着走出高墙的美好前景。

解释一下,表面上看无期徒刑是比有期徒刑的最高年限25年更严厉的惩罚,但事实上根据中共现行法律,被判无期徒刑的罪犯在经过一次或几次减刑后,其实际执行的刑期不能少于十三年。只要在狱中悔改并表现突出。只是起始时间应当自无期徒刑判决确定之日起计算,而不是从羁押之日算起。

所以从理论上讲,于20156月被一审判处无期徒刑的周永康,即使排除保外就医及假释的可能性,刑满出狱的时间也可以早至20286月,有盼头。当庭表示认罪服判,不上诉的庭审表现,甚至还当庭表示对我问题的依纪依法处理,体现了全面从严治党、全面依法治国的决心,充分体现了我国司法的进步的诚恳态度,决定了他周永康百分之百属于悔改表现突出者。

至于被判“死缓者的缓刑到期后,一般可以改判为有期徒刑或无期徒刑,然后就是减刑。至于判了死缓的人得多少年才能出狱,按照墙内权威律师的说法:这个没有定论,但通常都是在二十年左右,根据具体表现可能更少。

如此说来,被判处死缓但有幸未被附加终身监禁,比孙志刚早两年多时间进到秦城的来自中共贵州官场的另外一名正省部级贪官,在孙志刚担任贵州省长和省委书记期间先是担任贵州省委副书记,然后升任省政协主席的王富玉也会在孙志刚进去之后陪伴他18年左右。按照秦城监狱的生活和医疗条件,1952年出生的王富玉和1954年出生的孙志刚都能再活个18年以上的概率挺大。

因为本专栏的上篇文章里一一开列了18个被判了死缓还要再附加终身监禁的中管干部的犯罪金额,所以在此要对被判死缓却没有被附加终身监禁的王富玉多说几句。

此人在法庭上当庭表示完全承认法庭认定的他在位期间受贿财物折合人民币4.34亿余元,退休后又利用影响力收受他人给予的财物折合人民币1735万余元。但如此巨大的数额为什么还没有被判终身监禁呢?

笔者把法庭上给他的判决书内容与被在死缓基础上附加了终身监禁的那18个中管干部一一做了对比,发现虽然这18个人中的半数都没有王富玉的受贿金额高,但王富玉是被法庭认定为自动投案,如实供述办案机关已掌握的部分受贿犯罪事实,主动交代办案机关尚未掌握的利用影响力受贿和绝大部分受贿犯罪事实,系自首,(且)部分受贿犯罪系未遂

另外与孙志刚相比,王富玉是“违法所得及收益全部追缴到案,这一点也比较重要,特别是违法所得收益都被全部追缴到案。这里的收益应该是包括了银行利息以及用受贿款投资后赚取的利润。比如王富玉或者他的家人用1个亿的受贿款投资50套房产,日后卖掉这些房产获益1.5亿,那么他和他的家人不但把这一个亿的本金上缴,同时也还把1.5亿的获利一并上缴。

也就是说,王富玉实际上缴的财物折合人民币是要超过被认定的受贿总金额的。

但无论怎么说,王富玉的受贿总金额高达4亿5千多万却还没有被在死缓基础上附加终身监禁,怎么说都是组织上对他的法外开恩,所以他才在法官的判决书没有读完的时候就迫不及待地高声喊出了服从法院判决,不上诉

笔者去年9月曾在本专栏的《前腐后继的贵州省委书记们》一文中调侃说被判无期徒刑的刘方仁如今正在秦城监狱里等着他贵州省委书记岗位上的晚辈孙志刚同志的到来。

不过日后屈指一算,早在20021月就被中纪委双规,继而于2004年初就已经被判无期徒刑的刘方仁,入狱后还要服刑20年的可能性很小,因为当年的中共官媒曾经专门报道过他刘方仁进入秦城监狱后是如何地自己对自己进行普法教育,并向组织上诚恳表示知罪、悔罪,同时对二审的维持原判心服口服。实属悔改表现突出

不过呢,这位贵州的刘书记和日后重庆的薄熙来书记一样,在进秦城监狱之前都曾经有过一个因为“不知法、不懂法而持续了一段时间拒不认罪的过程。

在中共贪官群里,像当年刘方仁那样在一审法庭上敢于当庭抗辩,并表示不服判,坚决上诉者为数不多。笔者关注过的也就有薄熙来一个了。当年给刘方仁的判决书里给他罗列的全部罪名就是 19953月至20022月在担任中共贵州省委书记和省人大常委会主任期间,利用职务上的便利,为他人谋取利益,单独或伙同其儿媳易阳,先后22次收受他人人民币661万元、美元1.99万元,共计折合人民币677万余元。

如果与日后的薄熙来相比的话,表面上看他刘方仁的经济犯罪金额甚至比薄熙来的还要高,但是薄熙来的犯罪金额的大部分是贪污,而中共政权对党内贪官的司法处理,一向是对犯贪污罪行的惩罚更严,更何况薄熙来是被以贪污、受贿和“致使国家和人民利益遭受重大损失的滥用职权三罪并罚。

当然,薄熙来也有他自己的被“冤枉之处,而刘方仁比日后的薄熙来更委屈的是,他那677万中有500万根本就是他当时的儿媳易阳本人收受的。按照刘方仁自己的辩称,他本人是在被中纪委办案人员反复威逼他坦白从宽,抗拒从宽,拒不交待,死路一条的过程中,才第一次听说还有一个“500万的故事

刘方仁持这一理由的上诉当然会被驳回,因为时任中共总书记江泽民在刘方仁获刑之前早已发话“严惩不贷。而且,易阳也没有被从宽处理,最终获刑15年。

刘方仁入狱后,墙内媒体曾有文章如此描述说:刘方仁在贵州的腐败从他到任之后不久便开始了,但他还是平稳地度过了两个任期,而且在老百姓中赢得了不错的口碑。“比较有实干精神不像一般的领导喜欢打官腔为人比较平易,是记者在贵州采访时听到较多的关于刘方仁的评价。

虽然不敢苟同墙内记者的如此评价,但从比烂的角度,孙志刚绝对是包括刘方仁在内的中共政权历任贵州书记中最招恨的一个。在贵州百姓以及贵州各级地方官员的心目中,孙志刚绝对比刘方仁坏的多得多。

上网搜寻一下就不难发现,自孙志刚案一审开庭以来,墙内媒体对他的大批判内容集中在了他当年为贵州“脱贫而在全省农村强行推广的玉米革命上。

当年孙志刚由贵州省长就地升任省委书记半年后,该省政府办公厅遵照孙书记的旨意于2018124日下发一纸《关于打赢种植业结构战略性调整攻坚战的通知》。其中最关键的内容就是争取旱地基本农田全部种植经济作物,彻底改变种玉米的传统习惯

为推动这场“振兴农村经济的深刻产业革命,孙志刚决定将其此前为贵州省政府创造出的五步工作法,即政策设计、工作部署、干部培训、监督检查、追责问责,进一步发扬光大,要求具体落实到消灭玉米地的产业革命中来……

于是,为了讨好孙书记,更是为了不被“追责问责,贵州最贫穷的几大农业地区的党政领导人竞相喊出了你敢种,我敢铲,坚决不留苞谷(玉米)秆。脱贫要幸福,不要种苞谷的口号。一场轰轰烈烈的消灭玉米种植行动在贵州全省展开。

有报道说,当时对孙书记指示执行最为得力的地区之一凯里市,居然在《调整玉米种植结构通知》中规定,禁止在村内多处地方种植玉米,若因违规继续种植玉米被通报或处罚者,还要将免去三年的合作医疗补贴。

孙志刚离开贵州后才有一位当地的玉米种植专家敢于对外介绍,禁种玉米期间,省里有的地方从源头上对销售玉米种子实施管制,因为“上级要求贵州省境内的市场上不能出现玉米种子,对此农业部门压力就很大……

我们本专栏今年9月刊登的《到底是谁向中纪委出卖了孙志刚?》一文中曾经介绍说:墙内媒体上也不乏有从政治角度揭露孙志刚罪行的文章。比如新浪财经在孙志刚于天津受审的当天的报道文章就是取标题为《当了十年正部的他,70岁被开除党籍,带坏风气多个下属被查》。文章中说:孙志刚主政贵州的5年间在干部考察中搞非组织活动。其主政贵州期间被提拔重用的两名副省级官员已落马。第一个就是在孙志刚天津受审的前两天才被判处死缓的李再勇。

孙志刚是20177月由贵州省长就地升任省委书记的。 而李再勇是当年初才被陈敏尔提升为省委常委、省委秘书长的。但就在孙志刚接替陈敏尔的当月,这个李再勇就被下放任贵阳市委书记。

接下来的几个月时间里,这个李再勇此前执政六盘水市期间强推过的“农业产业结构调整的宝贵经验被孙志刚利用。于是孙志刚在制定出在全省范围内消灭玉米地的改革政策的同时即安排李再勇出任了常务副省长和省党组副书记。日后这个李再勇最被孙志刚称道的表现就是为了禁止种植玉米,会拿着望远镜检查路边、山坳等区域。一些当地官员迫于他的压力,同时又担心会彻底绝了当地农民,特别是山区农民的生计 ,只得私下授意农民们在大山深处,李再勇的望远镜无法看到的地方种点玉米,聊补无米之炊

有道是,相比孙志刚的受贿罪单项罪名,这个李再勇是被判了受贿罪、滥用职权罪。其中滥用职权罪一项被法庭认定是“社会影响特别恶劣,给国家和人民利益造成特别重大损失,但其中只包括他在主政六盘水市期间毁林毁地开发旅游项目的败笔,并不包括他在省政府任职期间配合孙志刚在全省范围内强推玉米革命的那部分。

同理,孙志刚的“玉米革命虽然给贵州全省农村造成了无法统计的经济损失,但却没有被因此治罪。因为这事关习近平对孙志刚领导贵州全面脱贫从而才实现全国范围的彻底脱贫的充分肯定,所以虽然连百度百科都专门建立了孙志刚曾一年消灭800万亩玉米词条,但法院方面还是不敢斗胆给孙志刚增加一项滥用职权罪。

中共当局对孙志刚的党内通报中只强调他对贵州官场“政治生态的破坏和收受巨额财物,但他最应该以死谢罪的绝对是他主政贵州期间对当地经济生态的破坏和给全省农民带来的巨大经济损失。

孙志刚落马的当月即有墙内媒体引述贵州省内玉米专家的话对外披露,孙志刚因年龄原因不再担任贵州省委书记后,虽然贵州全省的玉米种植面积已经逐年恢复到了去年的一千多万亩,但还是没有完全达到到孙志刚在当地强推“玉米革命运动之前的种植规模,希望能够在未来时间逐步恢复、增加到1800万至2000万亩,以此才能确保全省范围内的粮食安全。由此可见这个孙志刚真的是罪该万死!

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© 法新社图片

2023年8月29日,贵州省铜仁市的农民在广场上将收成的玉米晒干。

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Trump adviser says Ukraine focus must be peace, not territory

Reuters ukrainian troops ride in a tank in sumy region near the Russian borderReuters
Trump has consistently said his priority is to end the war and stem the drain on US resources

A senior adviser to president-elect Donald Trump says the incoming administration will focus on achieving peace in the war in Ukraine rather than winning back territory.

Bryan Lanza, a Republican party strategist, told the BBC the Trump administration would ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his version of a "realistic vision for peace".

"And if President Zelensky comes to the table and says, well we can only have peace if we have Crimea, he shows to us that he's not serious," he said.

Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014. Eight years later, it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has occupied territory in the country's east.

Trump has already spoken to Zelensky since winning the US election - the pair held a phone call on Wednesday with billionaire Elon Musk also taking part.

“It was a short chat with Musk, but it was a good lengthy conversation with Trump, it lasted about half an hour,” a source in Ukraine's presidential office told the BBC.

“It was not really a conversation to talk about very substantial things, but overall it was very warm and pleasant.”

Trump has consistently said his priority is to end the war and stem the drain on US resources.

His Democrat opponents have accused him of cosying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin and say his approach to the war amounts to surrender for Ukraine and will endanger all of Europe.

Last month, Zelensky presented a "victory plan" to the Ukrainian parliament that included a refusal to trade Ukraine’s territories and sovereignty.

During his election campaign, Trump repeatedly said he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine “in a day”, but gave no details. A paper written by two of his former national security chiefs in May said the US should continue supplying weapons, but make the support conditional on Kyiv entering peace talks with Russia.

Ukraine should not give up its hopes of getting all of its territory back from Russian occupation, the paper said, but it should negotiate based on current front lines.

Mr Lanza did not mention areas of eastern Ukraine, but he said regaining Crimea from Russia was unrealistic and "not the goal of the United States".

"When Zelensky says we will only stop this fighting, there will only be peace once Crimea is returned, we've got news for President Zelensky: Crimea is gone," he told the BBC World Service’s Weekend programme.

"And if that is your priority of getting Crimea back and having American soldiers fight to get Crimea back, you're on your own."

Mr Lanza said he had tremendous respect for the Ukrainian people, describing them as having the hearts of lions. But he said the US priority was "peace and to stop the killing".

"What we're going to say to Ukraine is, you know what you see? What do you see as a realistic vision for peace. It's not a vision for winning, but it's a vision for peace. And let's start having the honest conversation," he said.

EPA Zelensky and Trump shaking handsEPA
Zelensky and Trump after a meeting in the US earlier this year - they spoke on the phone on Wednesday

Earlier this week, Putin congratulated Trump on his election victory and said Trump's claim that he can help end the war in Ukraine "deserves attention at least".

Mr Lanza also criticised the support the Biden-Harris administration and European countries have given to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

"The reality on the ground is that the European nation states and President Biden did not give Ukraine the ability and the arms to win this war at the very beginning and they failed to lift the restrictions for Ukraine to win," he said.

Earlier this year, the US House of Representatives approved a $61bn (£49bn) package in military aid for Ukraine to help combat Russia's invasion.

The US has been the biggest arms supplier to Ukraine - between February 2022 and the end of June 2024, it delivered or committed weapons and equipment worth $55.5bn (£41.5bn), according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German research organisation.

Pompeii to cap daily tourist numbers at 20,000

Getty Images Two tourists wearing hats visit the Hall of Mysteries in the 'Villa of Mysteries' in Pompeii. They take photos on her phone of the wall paintings, which show images of Roman lifeGetty Images

The Roman archaeological site of Pompeii will limit the number of daily visitors to the site to 20,000 a day after a steep rise in visitors.

A record high 36,000 tourists visited the site on the first Sunday of October, when entry was free, local media reported.

The park’s management said on Friday that the site would cap its daily visitor number from 15 November.

Pompeii, the Roman city buried in an eruption from nearby Mount Vesuvius in AD79, is one of the best-preserved Roman sites anywhere in the world.

EPA Plaster casts of twisted bodies who died during the eruption of Vesuvius in AD79 are on display PompeiiEPA
Pompeii and its Roman inhabitants were buried in a volcanic eruption from nearby Mount Vesuvius

Nearly 4 million people visited the main Pompeii site in 2023, a third more than the previous year. Visitor counts had been climbing in the run up to the pandemic and in 2023 were above pre-Covid levels.

More than 480,000 people visited in October 2024.

In October 2024, there were more than 480,000 visitors, putting the average at about 15,500 a day. The busiest month so far this year was May, when about 517,000 people visited, or some 16,700 a day.

The 20,000 cap is likely to only lead to tourists being turned away on a handful of occasions. A spokesperson for the park told Reuters that it had only exceeded 20,000 visitors when entry is free on the first Sunday of the month, as well as three or four fee-paying days.

Getty Images Tourists crowd the the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, walking around and taking pictures.Getty Images
Nearly 4 million people visited the main Pompeii site in 2023, a third more than the previous year

Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the park's director, said that reducing the effects of human visitors at Pompeii was important for conservation and safety reasons.

The city was devastated by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which preserved swathes of it almost intact under a layer of ash for over 1,000 years.

About a third of the site has yet to be excavated. It continues to be of huge interest to archaeologists, providing the most complete picture of daily Roman life anywhere in the world.

Earlier this year, archaeologists revealed frescos of mythical Greek figures including Helen of Troy and Apollo. The artworks were found in a banqueting hall with dramatic black walls and a mosaic floor made of more than 1 million white tiles.

Entry tickets to Pompeii start at €18 (£14.90; $19.30).

Trump adviser says Ukraine focus must be peace, not territory

Reuters ukrainian troops ride in a tank in sumy region near the Russian borderReuters
Trump has consistently said his priority is to end the war and stem the drain on US resources

A senior adviser to president-elect Donald Trump says the incoming administration will focus on achieving peace in the war in Ukraine rather than winning back territory.

Bryan Lanza, a Republican party strategist, told the BBC the Trump administration would ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his version of a "realistic vision for peace".

"And if President Zelensky comes to the table and says, well we can only have peace if we have Crimea, he shows to us that he's not serious," he said.

Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014. Eight years later, it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has occupied territory in the country's east.

Trump has already spoken to Zelensky since winning the US election - the pair held a phone call on Wednesday with billionaire Elon Musk also taking part.

“It was a short chat with Musk, but it was a good lengthy conversation with Trump, it lasted about half an hour,” a source in Ukraine's presidential office told the BBC.

“It was not really a conversation to talk about very substantial things, but overall it was very warm and pleasant.”

Trump has consistently said his priority is to end the war and stem the drain on US resources.

His Democrat opponents have accused him of cosying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin and say his approach to the war amounts to surrender for Ukraine and will endanger all of Europe.

Last month, Zelensky presented a "victory plan" to the Ukrainian parliament that included a refusal to trade Ukraine’s territories and sovereignty.

During his election campaign, Trump repeatedly said he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine “in a day”, but gave no details. A paper written by two of his former national security chiefs in May said the US should continue supplying weapons, but make the support conditional on Kyiv entering peace talks with Russia.

Ukraine should not give up its hopes of getting all of its territory back from Russian occupation, the paper said, but it should negotiate based on current front lines.

Mr Lanza did not mention areas of eastern Ukraine, but he said regaining Crimea from Russia was unrealistic and "not the goal of the United States".

"When Zelensky says we will only stop this fighting, there will only be peace once Crimea is returned, we've got news for President Zelensky: Crimea is gone," he told the BBC World Service’s Weekend programme.

"And if that is your priority of getting Crimea back and having American soldiers fight to get Crimea back, you're on your own."

Mr Lanza said he had tremendous respect for the Ukrainian people, describing them as having the hearts of lions. But he said the US priority was "peace and to stop the killing".

"What we're going to say to Ukraine is, you know what you see? What do you see as a realistic vision for peace. It's not a vision for winning, but it's a vision for peace. And let's start having the honest conversation," he said.

EPA Zelensky and Trump shaking handsEPA
Zelensky and Trump after a meeting in the US earlier this year - they spoke on the phone on Wednesday

Earlier this week, Putin congratulated Trump on his election victory and said Trump's claim that he can help end the war in Ukraine "deserves attention at least".

Mr Lanza also criticised the support the Biden-Harris administration and European countries have given to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

"The reality on the ground is that the European nation states and President Biden did not give Ukraine the ability and the arms to win this war at the very beginning and they failed to lift the restrictions for Ukraine to win," he said.

Earlier this year, the US House of Representatives approved a $61bn (£49bn) package in military aid for Ukraine to help combat Russia's invasion.

The US has been the biggest arms supplier to Ukraine - between February 2022 and the end of June 2024, it delivered or committed weapons and equipment worth $55.5bn (£41.5bn), according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German research organisation.

Famous Italian tourist spot to limit daily visitor numbers

Getty Images Two tourists wearing hats visit the Hall of Mysteries in the 'Villa of Mysteries' in Pompeii. They take photos on her phone of the wall paintings, which show images of Roman lifeGetty Images

The Roman archaeological site of Pompeii will limit the number of daily visitors to the site to 20,000 a day after a steep rise in visitors.

A record high 36,000 tourists visited the site on the first Sunday of October, when entry was free, local media reported.

The park’s management said on Friday that the site would cap its daily visitor number from 15 November.

Pompeii, the Roman city buried in an eruption from nearby Mount Vesuvius in AD79, is one of the best-preserved Roman sites anywhere in the world.

EPA Plaster casts of twisted bodies who died during the eruption of Vesuvius in AD79 are on display PompeiiEPA
Pompeii and its Roman inhabitants were buried in a volcanic eruption from nearby Mount Vesuvius

Nearly 4 million people visited the main Pompeii site in 2023, a third more than the previous year. Visitor counts had been climbing in the run up to the pandemic and in 2023 were above pre-Covid levels.

More than 480,000 people visited in October 2024.

In October 2024, there were more than 480,000 visitors, putting the average at about 15,500 a day. The busiest month so far this year was May, when about 517,000 people visited, or some 16,700 a day.

The 20,000 cap is likely to only lead to tourists being turned away on a handful of occasions. A spokesperson for the park told Reuters that it had only exceeded 20,000 visitors when entry is free on the first Sunday of the month, as well as three or four fee-paying days.

Getty Images Tourists crowd the the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, walking around and taking pictures.Getty Images
Nearly 4 million people visited the main Pompeii site in 2023, a third more than the previous year

Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the park's director, said that reducing the effects of human visitors at Pompeii was important for conservation and safety reasons.

The city was devastated by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which preserved swathes of it almost intact under a layer of ash for over 1,000 years.

About a third of the site has yet to be excavated. It continues to be of huge interest to archaeologists, providing the most complete picture of daily Roman life anywhere in the world.

Earlier this year, archaeologists revealed frescos of mythical Greek figures including Helen of Troy and Apollo. The artworks were found in a banqueting hall with dramatic black walls and a mosaic floor made of more than 1 million white tiles.

Entry tickets to Pompeii start at €18 (£14.90; $19.30).

‘We know what is coming’: Federal bureaucrats wrestle with fight-or-flight response to Trump election

Thousands of federal bureaucrats have lived through one Donald Trump administration. Many are not sure they can or will survive a second.

POLITICO spoke with more than a dozen civil servants, political appointees under President Joe Biden and recently departed Biden administration staffers in the days since the presidential election was called for Trump, who were granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic and the risk to their jobs. Many are bracing for a wave of departures from key federal agencies in the coming months, amid fears that the next president will gut their budgets, reverse their policy agendas and target them individually if they do not show sufficient loyalty. The result is likely to be a sizable brain drain from the federal workforce — something Trump may welcome.

“Last time Trump was in office, we were all in survival mode with a hope for an end date,” said one State Department official. “Now there is no light at the end of the tunnel.”

The former president and his allies are deeply distrustful of the executive branch bureaucracy and the more than 2 million civil servants who staff it — blaming a federal “deep state” for trying to undermine him in his first term and driving the impeachment efforts against him. As president, Trump named political appointees to various agencies with the purpose of cleaning house — and will again have the chance to nominate people for roughly 4,000 political jobs throughout the administration. In 2021, his White House launched an effort to make it easier to fire civil servants and replace them with political appointees, something he is expected to restart when he returns in January. He’s also threatened to move thousands of federal jobs outside D.C.

Trump-Vance Transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt did not reply directly to a query about the future of the federal workforce, saying, via email, “President-Elect Trump will begin making decisions on who will serve in his second Administration soon. Those decisions will be announced when they are made."

Trump’s policy agenda is also at odds with core priorities for a number of agencies under Biden.

The former president and his allies are deeply distrustful of the executive branch bureaucracy and the more than 2 million civil servants who staff it.

Several of Biden’s political appointees at Department of Transportation headquarters near Washington's Navy Yard were despondent at the prospect of a new Trump administration set on undoing much of their work over the past four years, including airline consumer protections and massive investments in infrastructure.

“There’s a lot of anxiety among Biden appointees, like myself, who need to find new jobs — and also among career staff who are worried about Trump trying to remove career civil servants who had a policymaking role,” a DOT official told POLITICO.

“I am glad that I am retiring soon. … EPA is toast,” said a staffer at the Environmental Protection Agency, whose efforts to fight climate change clash with Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” approach to energy policy.

A number of officials, however, are wrestling with the conflicting desire to stay in government and defend the mission of the agencies they work for.

“We do our best to make sure either administration does what's legal,” said a Department of Homeland Security staffer in a legal office. “If I leave, I’d be replaced with an enabler.”

The alarm over Trump’s return is particularly palpable among national security officials, environmental agencies and the federal health agencies, who fear the president-elect will follow through on his pledge to let noted vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “go wild on health.”

In his victory speech early Wednesday morning, Trump reiterated that promise. “He’s going to help make America healthy again. … He wants to do some things, and we’re going to let him get to it,” Trump said.

On Wednesday, Kennedy made the rounds on radio and television, saying that he would not seek to halt vaccinations.

Still, one current staffer at the National Institutes of Health said concerns are building inside the research agency about the future of vaccine research in the next administration.

NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli seemed to hint at those fears in an email sent to agency staff Wednesday that was shared with POLITICO.

“With the 2024 election day now behind us, I want to acknowledge that change can leave us feeling uncertain,” she wrote.

“I do not want to dismiss those feelings, but I do want to remind everyone that throughout our 137-year history, the NIH mission has remained steadfast, and our staff committed to the important work of biomedical research in the service of public health.”

A former Food and Drug Administration official told POLITICO on Wednesday that Kennedy's assertions that he would have heavy influence over health agencies during Trump's second term is raising the risk of career staff departing the agency responsible for drug oversight and food safety.

“The agency personnel are concerned, especially in light of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s statements and his potential role at the agency," said the former official. "The reality of that is something the agency has to grapple with.”

A former FDA official told POLITICO on Wednesday that Kennedy's assertions that he would have heavy influence over health agencies during Trump's second term is raising the risk of career staff departing the agency responsible for drug oversight and food safety.

"They're worried, they've been through transitions before so they clearly understand how to do that, but they read the news, the same as you and me," said a separate former senior FDA official. "I think it's a lot of RFK-driven stuff."

Staffers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also fear that under Trump, the public health agency — so central to the Covid-19 response — has “a target on its back,” as one person who works with the agency said.

Republicans have outlined clear plans for changes to the CDC — including the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which includes ambitions to split the agency into two. (The Trump campaign has insisted that Project 2025 isn’t its official policy.) And many conservatives, including Trump’s former FDA commissioner, have argued that the CDC should narrow its scope to focus mainly on disease control.

“What is very clear is that in 2016, Trump was completely unprepared, and now he has a plan, and public health is right smack in the middle of it," the person said.

A national security analyst who recently left the Biden administration shared similar fears and said having lived through a previous Trump administration, many civil servants are even more wary of working for a second one.

“People are sad and frightened. And what makes it worse is this time we know what is coming. It isn't theoretical. It is real,” the analyst said.

“At State in particular, it is going hard to overstate how targeted people, career officers will be," they said. "There will be no grace.”

Not everyone shared that bleak outlook. “I actually don’t see the freak-out yet, maybe it will come when the transition begins in earnest, but the folks I’ve talked to seem to have a pretty sober take that Trump’s victory means we carry out his policies,” said another State Department official. “If people disagree with those policies, nobody will hold anything against anyone that opts to leave.”

One Health and Human Services official who has worked under both Republican and Democratic administrations told POLITICO that while individual employees are freaking out about the election results, the overall vibe of her office this week is: “Business as usual. Keep on working. It is what it is.”

She is trying to find a glimmer of hope in the Trump administration’s mixed record on health care.

“There are sometimes weird synergies,” she said. “Like under the first Trump administration, Scott Gottlieb was a very strong tobacco control advocate, and the Center for Tobacco Products was actually able to do more than they could under the Obama administration.”

“So I'm asking myself: Are there pathways to work with people that you disagree with and despise?”

Michael Doyle, Kevin Bogardus and Hannah Northey contributed to this report.

© Francis Chung/POLITICO

朝鲜干扰GPS信号 韩国批危及民航安全


2024-11-09T14:57:43.949Z
2024年10月,朝鲜声称试射了威力强大的固体燃料洲际弹道导弹。

(德国之声中文网)韩国联合参谋本部(JCS)周六(11月9日)发布声明称:"朝鲜昨日和今日(11月8日至11月9日)在海州和开城进行了全球定位系统(GPS)干扰挑衅",数艘船只和数十架民航飞机因此经历了"一些操作上的中断"。

在此事件发生的一周前,朝鲜声称试射了威力强大的固体燃料洲际弹道导弹

韩国军方已警告在西海地区运行的船只和飞机小心朝鲜的GPS信号干扰。

韩国联合参谋本部也敦促朝鲜停止其GPS干扰挑衅,"我们强烈敦促北韩立即停止其GPS挑衅,并警告其将对由此产生的任何后续问题负责"。

朝韩之间的关系降至新低点。图为韩国一个车站的电视屏幕上播放朝鲜士兵演练的情景。

南北关系敌对加剧

自朝鲜开始向韩国放送垃圾气球并发射一系列弹道导弹以展示实力以来,朝韩之间的局势降至新低点

航空专家对朝鲜的垃圾气球行动、导弹发射以及GPS干扰表示担忧,因为这可能危及航班的运行并带来安全风险。

朝鲜领导人金正恩对韩国保守政府的敌意日益加深。韩国政府批评朝鲜放弃其与韩国和解的长期目标。

除了通过发射导弹展示实力外,朝鲜向俄罗斯提供军备和部队以支持普京在乌克兰的战争,也令外界感到担忧。

(美联社、法新社、路透社)

©2024年德国之声版权声明:本文所有内容受到著作权法保护,如无德国之声特别授权,不得擅自使用。任何不当行为都将导致追偿,并受到刑事追究。

伊朗特工被指控策划暗杀活动人士及特朗普


2024-11-09T14:36:34.263Z
美国司法部称,伊朗在美国大选前曾买凶企图暗杀特朗普

(德国之声中文网)周四(11月8日),两名纽约居民,49岁的里维拉(Carlisle Rivera)和36岁的洛德霍尔特(Jonathan Loadholt),在曼哈顿联邦地方法院出庭并被判令羁押,不得保释。他们被指控企图暗杀著名伊朗流亡人士、现美国籍记者阿里纳贾德(Masih Alinejad)。

美国联邦调查局调查人员称,居住在纽约布鲁克林的阿里纳贾德多次成为伊朗在美国本土暗杀企图的目标。

"我非常震惊,"阿里纳贾德在柏林通过电话向美联社表示。她正准备出席一场纪念柏林墙倒塌的活动。她说:"这是第三次针对我的暗杀企图,实在令人震惊。"

她在社交媒体平台X上发文称:"我来到美国是为了行使(美国宪法)第一修正案赋予我的言论自由权利--我不想死。我想要对抗暴政,我也应该得到安全保护。感谢执法部门保护我,但我敦促美国政府维护国家安全。"

阿里纳贾德多次面临暗杀企图

这是伊朗当局针对阿里纳贾德的暗杀阴谋的最新案件。

美国检察官曾指控,一名伊朗革命卫队高级官员和其他几名与伊朗政府相关的人士策划在2022年暗杀阿里纳贾德。在那起案件中,一名男子在阿里纳贾德家附近被捕,当时他携带一支装有子弹的AK-47型突击步枪。

在2021年,四名伊朗人被控共谋绑架阿里纳贾德,企图将她劫持至伊朗。

阿里纳贾德周四说,"这表明他们决心在美国本土杀害一名美国公民。"

2023年11月,德黑兰的抗议者举着伊朗流亡人士、现美国籍记者阿里纳贾德(Masih Alinejad)的画像。

暗杀酬金:10万美元和150万美元

诉状称,两名被告接受一名叫沙克里(Farhad Shakeri)的男子的指令,长期监控和跟踪阿里纳贾德。

三人均受到雇佣杀人、共谋雇佣杀人和共谋洗钱的犯罪指控。沙克里还被指控为外国恐怖组织(即伊朗革命卫队)提供物质支持,以及共谋违反美国对伊朗的制裁。

现年51岁的沙克里的国籍为阿富汗,目前居住在伊朗。他童年时移居美国,后因抢劫服刑14年后被美国驱逐出境。他被指控与伊朗政府保持联系,帮助其组织犯罪网络,用于监视和实施雇佣杀人行动。

诉状披露,从今年9月开始,身处德黑兰的沙克里主动通过电话与美国联邦调查局特工交谈过五次交谈,最近一次是本周四。据称,他这样做的目的是为一名在美国被判监禁的同伙争取减刑。

沙克里指示洛德霍尔特和里维拉花数月时间监视阿里纳贾德,要求他们找到并杀死她,承诺为此支付他们10万美元。"完成任务然后领取报酬,"沙克里在一条短信中告诉里维拉。

沙克里在与联邦调查局特工的访谈中透露,伊朗革命卫队官员为他刺杀阿里纳贾德开出的价码是150万美元。诉状中描述,该官员称革命卫队要求随时就地执行该项刺杀计划--"白天、夜间、随时随地"。

诉状中提到,1994年,里维拉因二级谋杀罪被判入狱。他和沙克里的服刑时间有交集。

流产的大规模枪杀计划

沙克里还向调查人员表示,伊朗革命卫队的联系人还指派他策划刺杀两名居住在纽约的犹太裔美国商人以及在斯里兰卡的以色列游客。

沙克里说,他得到伊朗方面的许诺,每杀死一名美国人,就可以获得50万美元的酬金。

他被要求在10月对斯里兰卡的以色列游客进行大规模枪杀行动。美国官员称,由于美以两国发布了旅行警告,该行动最终被挫败。沙克里的一名同伙也被斯里兰卡当局逮捕。

11月7日,德黑兰一家报摊,伊朗媒体报道特朗普再次当选。

刺杀特朗普的行动计划

沙克里还告诉美国联邦调查局特工,在10月7日与革命卫队官员的会面中,他被指示要在七天内提出一个刺杀特朗普的计划。

沙克里说,这名官员表示,"我们已经花了很多钱",并且"钱不是问题"。沙克里告诉调查人员,这名官员还称,如果他无法在七天内拿出方案,那么暗杀计划将推迟至选举之后,因为该官员认为特朗普会败选,到时候暗杀会更容易进行。

诉状并未显示里维拉和洛德霍尔特参与了刺杀特朗普的计划,也未说明该计划是否被正式推进。两名被告的律师洛德霍尔特(Jonathan Loadholt)和里维拉(Carlisle Rivera)没有立即回复媒体的置评请求。

沙克里向联邦调查局特工表示,他无意策划实施刺杀特朗普的行动计划。

今年7月和9月,先后有两名美国男子涉嫌刺杀特朗普。这两起事件据信与对伊朗方面的指控无关。

今年夏天,在得知伊朗的暗杀威胁后,特朗普的竞选团队要求美国方面派军机供他出行,扩大其住所及集会的飞行限制,并采取前总统或总统候选人从未有过的安保措施

伊朗外交部驳斥暗杀指控

在德黑兰,伊朗外交部发言人巴盖伊(Esmail Baghaei)驳斥了这一报道,称其"完全没有根据,纯属无稽之谈",并说这是一个由以色列相关团体策划的阴谋,目的是让伊朗与美国的关系更复杂。官媒伊朗通讯社(IRNA)报道称,巴盖伊表示,过去类似的指控已被证明是"错误的"。

巴盖伊表示:"在当下重提这个指控,是一个由反伊朗的犹太复国主义和反伊朗团体策划的令人作呕的阴谋,旨在使美伊问题更加复杂。"

刑事诉状称,虽然官员们判定沙克里提供的部分信息是虚假的,但有关暗杀特朗普的计划以及伊朗愿意为此支付巨款的陈述被认为是真实的。

此外,伊朗代理人还对特朗普竞选团队成员的电子邮件进行了黑客入侵和泄露,官员评估称其目的是干预总统选举并破坏特朗普的竞选活动。

情报官员曾表示,伊朗反对特朗普连任,认为他更可能加剧美伊之间的紧张关系。上届特朗普政府终止了与伊朗的核协议,重启对伊朗的制裁,并下令杀死被列为恐怖分子的伊朗将军苏莱曼尼(Qassem Soleimani),伊朗领导人曾誓言复仇。

特朗普的发言人史蒂文·张(Steven Cheung)表示,特朗普已知晓暗杀阴谋,但这不会阻止他"重返白宫并恢复世界和平"。

相关图集:美国2024:大选之夜的欢庆与失落

重返:这是纽约曼哈顿一名特朗普支持者在选举之夜的共和党活动上。初步计票结果显示,共和党在参议院获得多数,特朗普在关键摇摆州宾夕法尼亚、北卡罗莱纳和佐治亚获胜。
宣布自己获胜:美东时间6日凌晨,共和党总统候选人特朗普在佛州西棕榈滩发表演说,宣布自己获胜。而世界领导人也开始向他祝贺:泽连斯基、内塔尼亚胡、梅洛尼、欧尔班、马克龙、莫迪、肖尔茨... ...
“黄金时代”:在拉斯维加斯,特朗普的支持者边听他的讲话边欢呼。特朗普在讲话中称,美国未来将迎来“黄金时代”。
卡玛拉·哈里斯的支持者:而在卡玛拉·哈里斯的母校华盛顿的霍华德大学,她的支持者也获悉初步选举结果。
选举日的卡玛拉·哈里斯:选举当天,卡玛拉·哈里斯还前往民主党总部的一次电话动员活动,并出人意料地与志愿者一道,给人们打电话,鼓励他们投票,或询问他们是否已经投票。
失落:这是卡玛拉·哈里斯的一名支持者在霍华德大学为哈里斯举行的选举之夜活动上。当夜,哈里斯在母校并未向公众讲话。

"坚持不懈地追捕这些恶行者"

美国联邦官员称,这属于伊朗对在美国领土上袭击美国政府官员的持续性行动之一。例如,去年夏天,美国司法部曾指控一名与伊朗有联系的巴基斯坦男子参与针对美国官员的雇佣杀人阴谋。

美国司法部长加兰(Merrick Garland)周五在一份声明中表示:"世界上存在少数威胁美国国家安全的行为主体,伊朗便是其中之一。"联邦调查局局长雷伊(Christopher Wray)称此案显示了伊朗"持续无所顾忌地试图打击美国公民,包括特朗普、其他政府领导人以及批评德黑兰政权的异见人士。"

纽约南区联邦检察官威廉姆斯(Damian Williams)表示:"必须阻止这种行动。今天的指控再次向那些继续实施此类行动的人发出信息--无论他们身处何地,我们将坚持不懈地追捕这些恶行者。"

(综合报道)

© 2024年德国之声版权声明:本文所有内容受到著作权法保护,如无德国之声特别授权,不得擅自使用。任何不当行为都将导致追偿,并受到刑事追究。



哈贝克希望代表绿党竞选德国总理

Jens Thurau
2024-11-09T13:18:13.839Z
德国副总理兼经济和气候保护部部长哈贝克希望竞选总理 (资料图片)

(德国之声中文网)德国副总理兼经济和气候保护部部长哈贝克于本周五(11月8日)下午在社交媒体平台上宣布,他将竞选成为其党派绿党在下一次联邦选举中的首席候选人。在其公布的一段影片中,哈贝克坐在一张厨房的桌子前,向德国民众宣布:“我将作为绿党的候选人参选——为了德国人民。”他继续说到:“如果您愿意的话,我也可以作为总理候选人[竞选]。但这不由我来决定,而是由您来决定,也只有您能决定。” 

然而何时举行总理大选目前尚未确定:由社民党(SPD)、绿党和自民党(FDP)组成的联合执政联盟宣告破裂,总理肖尔茨提议联邦议院于明年1月15日对其领导的柏林政府举行信任投票,若无法获得信任多数,则最可能的大选日期是2025年3月中旬。

不过在正式宣布前,哈贝克的总理候选人身份还需通过党内决议,下周绿党将在威斯巴登举行党代会进行表决。但观察人士认为哈贝克代表绿党参选基本已无变数。 

德国政坛“地震”  

然而,哈贝克胜选的可能性并不大。目前哈贝克所在党绿党的民调支持率在9%至11%之间。并且,哈贝克的竞选时机并不理想:本周政坛大事件接踵而至,首先是特朗普击败卡玛拉·哈里斯当选下任美国总统,这对于寄希望于民主党胜选的德国政府来说是第一个坏消息。紧接着周三当晚,在有关决定德国未来经济政策走向和预算等争议问题的协商讨论失败后,总理肖尔茨宣布解雇自民党籍财政部长林德纳。随后,自民党籍前教育部长施塔克-瓦青格(Bettina Stark-Watzinger)以及前司法部长布施曼(Marco Buschmann)自行宣布辞职。自此,交通灯执政联盟宣告破裂,哈贝克所属绿党同总理肖尔茨及其所在党社民党一道进入少数派执政状态,政治操作空间有限,前景并不乐观。 

默尔茨嘲讽哈贝克 

哈贝克希望继续为气候保护和经济转型奋斗,包括采取立法手段以及提供高额政府补贴来实现这些目标,这也是绿党的核心议题。但哈贝克作为一个严格的市场经济支持者,在绿党左翼内部并不总是受到欢迎。与于此同时,哈贝克对于同意收紧难民和移民政策的态度也令许多绿党支持者感到困惑。此外,哈贝克和绿党的选择本来就很有限:目前在民调中领先的基民盟和基社盟对于和哈贝克合作兴趣不大。本周五,基民盟主席默尔茨(Friedrich Merz)——同时也是下任德国总理的有力竞争者——对哈贝克的竞选声明进行了嘲讽:“以9%的民调支持率宣称自己是总理候选人,确实是颇具幽默感。”默尔茨补充道,绿党“需要自己和其选民协商解决这个问题”。 

 

红绿灯联盟执政初期,哈贝克在马里乌波尔附近访问时,向民众解释了新上台政府的乌克兰政策

部分民众将执政联盟的失败归咎于绿党  

德国红绿灯政府上台执政初期,哈贝克的公众形象相对良好:相比沉默寡言的总理,哈贝克更好地向德国民众解释了俄乌战争带来的动荡和巨变,解释了能源价格上涨以及通货膨胀的原因。但不久之后,政府在几乎所有重要议题上开始了持续的争论。根据最新的ARD民调结果,目前有59%的德国人对红绿灯执政联盟(红绿黄色分别代表了执政党颜色)的解体表示欢迎。40%的受访者将执政失败的原因归咎于前财政部长林德纳所在的自民党,然而,仍有26%的受访者认为绿党应对此负责。对哈贝克来说,情况本不至于这么糟。  

尽管如此,哈贝克还是一再强调,相对于回顾过去,他更想要做的是展望未来。为应对政府危机,总理肖尔茨已取消了下周前往巴库出席联合国气候峰会的行程,哈贝克则并未改变其出行计划:下周初他将参加在里斯本举行的“网络峰会”(Web Summit),这一峰会被视作世界领先的科技会议。他似乎传达了这样的信息:即便几乎所有迹象都表明他不太可能成为联邦总理,他也不会放弃希望。 

© 2024年德国之声版权声明:本文所有内容受到著作权法保护,如无德国之声特别授权,不得擅自使用。任何不当行为都将导致追偿,并受到刑事追究。

Queen to miss Remembrance events after illness

PA Media Queen CamillaPA Media

The Queen will miss Remembrance events this weekend while she recovers from a chest infection, Buckingham Palace says.

A statement said Queen Camilla was "following doctors’ guidance to ensure a full recovery from a seasonal chest infection, and to protect others from any potential risk".

"While this is a source of great disappointment to the Queen, she will mark the occasion privately at home and hopes to return to public duties early next week," the statement said.

On Friday, it was confirmed the Princess of Wales would attend Remembrance events in London this weekend as she gradually returns to public duties following her cancer treatment.

The Queen, who is 77, had withdrawn from events earlier in the week.

She missed the annual opening of the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey on Thursday, where she was instead represented by the Duchess of Gloucester.

The Queen returned to the UK last Wednesday after a trip with the King to Australia and Samoa, which included a stopover in India on the way back.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on Twitter to get the latest alerts.

Double-decker bus crash leaves 17 people injured

PatKarney A damaged Bee Network bus with a shattered display board behind another Bee Network bus, taped off, where emergency workers pick through debris.PatKarney
Police and ambulance crews were called to the crash at about 08:30 GMT

A number of bus passengers have been taken to hospital after two buses crashed close to a city centre.

Two Bee Network buses crashed on Rochdale Road off Livesey Street, Manchester, but no-one was seriously injured, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said.

Images show debris strewn across the highway as one of the vehicles appeared to have hit the back of the other.

A GMP spokesman said the road remained shut while emergency services were at the scene.

PatKarney A damaged Bee Network bus with a shattered display board behind another Bee Network bus, taped off, which emergency workers pick through debris.PatKarney
An air ambulance was seen at the site of the crash on Rochdale Road

Police were called to the incident at about 08:30 GMT.

Manchester councillor Pat Karney, who was at the site, posted on X to say there had been "unbelievable damage" to the front of the bus.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk and via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.

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Tour de France legend Mark Cavendish announces final race

Legend Cavendish to retire on Sunday

Mark Cavendish wavesImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Mark Cavendish was nicknamed the 'Manx Missile' because of his finishing speed in bunch sprints

Britain's Mark Cavendish, the most successful sprinter in cycling history, will retire after racing in the Tour de France Criterium in Singapore on Sunday.

The 39-year-old from the Isle of Man, who said in May that this season would be his last, broke the Tour de France record for stage wins with his 35th victory in July.

Cavendish won the road world title in 2011 and twice won the green jersey - awarded to the rider with the most points - at the Tour.

He has won 165 races since the start of his professional career in 2005, including 17 stages in the Giro d'Italia and three in the Vuelta a Espana, and received a knighthood in October.

On the track, Cavendish won omnium silver at the 2016 Olympics and was a three-time madison world champion.

"Racing career - completed it," Cavendish, who rides for the Astana-Qazaqstan team, wrote on Instagram.

"I am lucky enough to have done what I love for almost 20 years and I can now say that I have achieved everything that I can on the bike.

"Cycling has given me so much and I love the sport. I’ve always wanted to make a difference in it and now I am ready to see what the next chapter has in store for me."

Cavendish showed promise as a BMX and mountain bike rider, and was then part of the new era of investment in cycling in Britain as British Cycling dominated track cycling at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

He began his professional career on the road in 2005 in a feeder team for T-Mobile, winning his first Tour stage in 2008 for Team Columbia.

Cavendish suffered from injury and illness from 2017 and hinted at the end of the 2020 season that he could retire.

But following a return to form the following year he won four more Tour stages and the green jersey in his second spell with Quick Step.

Cavendish and his family were the victims of a violent robbery at their home in 2021.

He was omitted from Quick Step's Tour squad the following year, after which he signed for Astana-Qazaqstan for 2023.

Cavendish was set to retire at the end of the 2023 season but, after a crash ended his involvement in the Tour that summer, he delayed it by a year.

Having jointly held the record for Tour stage wins with the legendary Eddy Merckx since 2021, Cavendish surpassed the Belgian with victory in Saint Vulbas in July.

He finished third in the Tour de France Saitama Criterium in Japan last weekend.

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Former students urged to check for loan refunds

Charlotte Gill A blonde woman wearing a graduation cap and gown smiles as she stands by a pond in a parkCharlotte Gill
Charlotte Gill found she was eligible for £68 in refunds

University graduates across the UK are being urged by a campaign group to check whether they are due a refund on their student loan repayment after it was revealed that nearly £200m was overpaid last year.

Save the Student's comments come after figures were published which show that hundreds of thousands of people currently paying off their loans are eligible for a share of £184m in refunds.

It is easy to check whether a refund is owed by logging on to the government's Student Loan Company portal, where individual refunds could range from tens of pounds to more than £1,000.

Tom Allingham from Save the Student said for many getting a refund could make a world of difference.

Charlotte Gill is one such former student who was eligible for a refund on her loan payments, to the tune of £68.

She said it did not make a huge difference "but every little helps when you are a student".

"At the end of the day, it's your money, it’s not the government's money, so if you've got any entitlement to a refund then absolutely take it," she said.

Martin De'Ath received £396 in his refund and says the substantial payment made him question how he could have used it in the 10 months he was without it.

"I was definitely pleased to get it back at least," he said.

Martin De-Ath Martin, a brown haired man, poses in his graduation cap and gownMartin De-Ath
Martin De'Ath received nearly £400 in his student loan refund

There are four reasons people may be eligible for refunds.

The main reason, behind £146m of the total, is that repayments were taken from people despite them not earning above the annual threshold at which point repayments automatically kick in.

This can happen when someone earns above the monthly threshold which triggers the beginning of loan repayments, due to things like to taking extra shifts, getting a new job or receiving a bonus, but their annual earnings might still fall below the yearly threshold.

Since May, those who fall into this category have been able to use a new service offered by the SLC to request refunds online. In the first six months of the service, 418,000 people have done so.

Other reasons may be that former students are charged repayments before they are required to pay, which is generally in the April after they finish studying.

Some people may have been put on the wrong payment plans by their employer, while others may have continued making payments after their loan had been paid off in full.

Any money overpaid does count towards the full repayment of the loan, and may save graduates money in the long run on interest.

However, as Mr Allingham said, many university graduates may need the cash for their day-to-day expenses.

"It is definitely worth doing, particularly even with the cost of living crisis still lingering on a little bit, having that extra boost of cash right now could make a world of difference," Mr Allingham said.

How US election fraud claims changed as Trump won

Getty Images Donald Trump pointing his finger with an American flag in the backgroundGetty Images
Donald Trump addressed supporters in the early hours of Wednesday after the election results became clear

In the build-up to Tuesday’s US election, claims of voter fraud flooded social media - but as Donald Trump’s victory crystallised, the chatter largely subsided.

The claims didn’t stop entirely, however. A number of right-wing influencers and organisations pushing stories about “cheating” and a “rigged” vote pointed to incomplete vote totals and continued to repeat discredited theories about the 2020 election.

And disappointed Democratic Party supporters developed their own unsubstantiated voter fraud theories, some of which went viral on X, formerly Twitter, and other platforms.

The reach of the posts is nowhere near the deluge of content that circulated after Trump lost the 2020 election.

And with no support from losing candidate Kamala Harris or other Democratic Party officials, the chances seem slim of a large-scale movement developing along the lines of the “Stop the Steal” drive four years ago, which culminated in a riot at the US Capitol.

How did fraud claims develop on election day?

The BBC tracked a huge wave of pre-election fraud claims that carried through election day and into the evening.

These included claims of the vote being “stolen” in some key swing states, with exaggerated takes on real events being used in some cases to bolster the allegations.

Early on election day in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, a Republican stronghold, there were problems with voting machines malfunctioning. The issues were fixed and voting hours in the affected areas were extended.

However, many online immediately used the story to suggest nefarious activities were taking place.

One post at 08:45 local time on Tuesday said: “The election steal is happening!”

Other rumours were spread in posts that popped up throughout the day, including one at around 14:00, which claimed ballots in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, had been pre-marked for Kamala Harris.

In Milwaukee, the biggest city in the swing state of Wisconsin, elections officials made a decision to re-run around 30,000 ballots out of an “abundance of caution”, after doors on the back of voting machines were left open.

Once the count was completed, it showed that support for Harris had dropped compared with Joe Biden's four years earlier.

Like many of the pro-Trump posters, Harris supporters pointed to real but isolated events - fires at ballot drop boxes in Washington and Oregon, and a series of fake bomb threats that disrupted voting at several polling locations on election day - as evidence of widespread voter fraud.

However, there’s no evidence that the incidents significantly altered the vote or changed the outcome.

Several posts from Democratic Party activists questioning the result went viral and were seen by millions on X and other platforms.

Pam Keith, a Harris supporter in Florida, posted: “Is it possible that the machines were hacked to switch the tallies from Harris to Trump?” Her message was seen more than one million times on X, according to the site’s metrics. The BBC has reached out to her for comment.

Unlike Trump’s campaign in 2020, however, the Harris campaign and top Democratic Party officials have not endorsed allegations of cheating or voter fraud.

On election day, fraud rumours also came from President-elect Trump himself, who has repeatedly argued from the outset of his political career that the voting system is unfairly stacked against him.

Just after 16:30 Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social: “A lot of talk about massive CHEATING in Philadelphia. Law Enforcement coming!!!”

The now president-elect did not give any details and the Philadelphia Police Department told BBC Verify they were not aware of what Trump was referring to.

Seth Bluestein, the Republican City Commissioner in Philadelphia, posted on X: "There is absolutely no truth to this allegation. It is yet another example of disinformation. Voting in Philadelphia has been safe and secure."

Trump has not repeated the fraud allegations since election day.

We have contacted several hugely influential accounts that regularly posted about election fraud claims in the build-up to the vote, but none of them replied.

With data firm NodeXL, the BBC tracked accounts that engaged with Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump, Lara Trump and Elon Musk on X around election day.

Posts mentioning vote fraud peaked at 15:00 EST on 5 November - but then dropped off significantly that evening and into the next day as polls closed and results came in.

Claims continue to circulate

However, some organisations and activists who promoted voter fraud allegations in the past continued to repeat debunked rumours even after the results became clear.

Emerald Robinson, a former reporter with right-wing TV networks and a pro-Trump influencer with more than 750,000 followers on X, insisted that Democrats were “cheating right now” and posted: “I always told people the voting machines were rigged!”

More generally, reaction from pro-Trump groups and influencers who previously hyped up vote fraud claims varied - from silence on the issue, to continued insistence that the 2020 vote was marred by fraud.

The BBC contacted Ms Robinson for comment.

EPA A woman holding an American flag with her head in her hands, sitting by herself in a row of bleachersEPA
A dejected supporter of Kamala Harris. Some Democratic Party supporters have spread unevidenced claims in the wake of Harris's defeat

Conspiracy theories based on vote numbers

In another case, a chart that was widely circulating online claimed to show a sharp drop-off in vote totals in 2024 compared to 2020.

Many are pointing to the figures as “proof” of fraud.

Conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza, a Trump supporter who has pushed voter fraud theories, posted the day after the election: "Kamala got 60 million votes in 2024. Does anyone really believe Biden got 80 million in 2020? Where did those 20 million Democratic voters go? The truth is, they never existed."

However, the chart and the figures circulating online were based on preliminary vote totals, which continue to go up as final results are still being tabulated.

Already, Harris has more than 69 million votes in her column - with Trump on more than 73 million. As of Friday, fewer than two million ballots have yet to be counted nationally, in states including Arizona and California, according to Reuters.

The BBC contacted Mr D'Souza for comment.

Those same numbers are also fuelling conspiracy theories from supporters of Harris, who are wondering where their “missing” voters are - and ignoring the fact that turnouts and preferences frequently shift, often dramatically, between elections.

Partisans on both sides are also pointing to differences in vote tallies for Harris and other Democrats running for Senate seats.

But there is no requirement for US voters to support candidates from just one party, and “ticket-splitting” - voting for candidates from different parties in different races - although becoming rarer, is fairly common in American politics.

The University of Florida’s Election Lab turnout tracker is showing slightly lower turnout in 2024 as compared to 2020 - 62.5% v just over 66%.

Additional reporting by Shayan Sardarizadeh and Merlyn Thomas

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5名中纪委委员挂帅,进驻34家单位巡视丨时政周报

重庆市委常委、政法委书记陆克华任上被查,今年已有51名中管干部落马。

财政部:增加地方化债资源10万亿元。

学前教育法草案三审:明确严惩性侵体罚儿童等行为。

国家助学贷款提额度、降利率。

南方周末记者 杜寒三 南方周末实习生 代科卉

责任编辑:钱炜

中央第十五巡视组巡视中央统战部工作动员会召开。(中央纪委国家监委网站官网/图)

中央第四巡视组巡视中央统战部工作动员会召开。(中央纪委国家监委网站官网/图)

2024年11月5日,中央台办官网发布消息称,中央第十三巡视组已进驻中央台办。第十三巡视组组长于长辉在作动员讲话时表示,巡视将“着力推动解决突出问题,切实发挥巡视利剑作用”。

这则消息发布的当天,二十届中央第四轮巡视派出的15个巡视组,已全部完成进驻工作。

本轮巡视的重点是宣传思想文化和统战领域单位,一个突出特点是,这是二十届中央巡视组首次巡视党中央各部门。

被巡视的党中央部门有4个,分别是中宣部、中央统战部、中央网信办和中央台办。此外还有中央党校、中央党史和文献研究院、人民日报社等中央直属事业单位。

公开信息显示,本轮巡视继续采取“一托N”的方式进行。第十三巡视组是“一托二”,不仅巡视中央台办,同时还对全国台联进行巡视。

15个巡视组中,有11个是“一托二”,4个是“一拖三”,其中第六巡视组巡视全总、团中央和全国妇联;第七巡视组巡视延安、井冈山、浦东三大干部学院。

重点依旧是关于违反政治纪律、组织纪律、廉洁纪律、群众纪律、工作纪律和生活纪律等方面的举报和反映。

组长多有中纪委工作经历

本轮15位巡视组组长,大都有长期在中央纪委国家监委工作的经历,5人为二十届中央纪委委员,其中4人现任中央纪委国家监委派驻纪检监察组组长。

王新哲为中央纪委国家监委驻水利部纪检监察组组长,施克辉为驻中央港澳工作办公室纪检监察组组长,崔鹏为驻全国政协机关纪检监察组组长。

值得一提的是,另一位中纪委委员、担任第十五巡视组组长的习骅,曾写过《大清“裸官”庆亲王的作风问题》《皇帝的伙食费到底多少?》等“爆款”文章。有“中纪委笔杆子”之称的他,现任驻国家体育总局纪检监察组组长、总局党组成员。

其他巡视组组长大都有在中央纪委国家监委工作的经历。比如第六巡视组组长王荣军,曾任中纪委第八纪检监察室主任,并兼任中央巡视组副部级巡视专员。

还有两人长期在中组部工作。

第二巡视组组长孔圣根,曾任中组部干部一局副局长、中组部公务员管理办公室主任、中组部干部监督局局长等职务。第十四巡视组组长张福根,曾任中组部干部教育局副局长,全国组织干部学院常务副院长等职务。

比较特殊的是杨鑫和于长辉,他们长期在地方任职。

杨鑫是第八巡视组组长,早年在陕西工作。2017年9月,进京任中央巡视组副部级巡视专员。此后,他又赴新疆维吾尔自治区任纪委书记。

于长辉则长期在北京任职。2021年,他在昌平区委书记任上被评为全国优秀县委书记。不久后,于长辉出任北京市政协党组成员、秘书长。2023年开始,他担任二十届中央巡视组组长。

包括于长辉在内,有6人在本届巡视中已4次担任组长。第三巡视组组长张春生则是“新面孔”,首次在二十届中央巡视工作中担任组长。

一个多月前,张春生刚卸任民政部副部长。

他也曾长期在纪检监察系统工作,担任过中央纪委第十纪检监察室主任,中央纪委副秘书长兼办公厅主任(副部长级),中央纪委常委,国家监委委员,中央纪委副秘书长兼中央纪委国家监委办公厅主任等职务。

4轮巡视,有何不同?

二十届中央产生以后,基本每半年开展一次巡视。前三轮巡视进驻的时间分别是2023年4月、2023年10月和2024年4月。

首轮巡视派出了15个巡视组,对中国核工

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US 'won’t accept Hamas presence in Qatar'

Getty Images aerial view of QatarGetty Images
Small but influential Qatar is a key US ally and hosts a major air base

Senior US officials have reportedly said Washington will no longer accept the presence of Hamas representatives in Qatar, accusing the Palestinian group of rejecting the latest proposals to achieve a Gaza ceasefire and a hostage deal.

In anonymous briefings to the Reuters news agency, the officials said the Qatari government had agreed to tell Hamas to close its political office 10 days ago.

Hamas have had a political base in Doha since 2012, reportedly at the request of the Obama administration, to allow communication with the group.

The reports have been denied to the BBC by Hamas officials; Qatar has yet to comment.

The small but influential gulf state is a key US ally in the region. It hosts a major American air base and has handled many delicate political negotiations, including with Iran, the Taliban and Russia. Alongside the US and Egypt, the Qataris have also played a major role in rounds of so-far unsuccessful talks to broker a ceasefire in the year-long war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The latest round of talks in mid-October failed to produce a deal, with Hamas rejecting a short-term ceasefire proposal. They have always called for a complete end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

Israel has also been accused of rejecting deals. Days after being fired earlier this week, former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of rejecting a peace deal against the advice of his security chiefs.

Dr H A Hellyer, senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), thinks the reports are credible. “I think we’re in the last phase before Hamas is forced to relocate,” he told me. “The writing on the wall has been there for months.”

The call for Hamas to be expelled from Qatar appears to be an attempt by the outgoing Biden administration to force some sort of peace deal before the end of his term in January.

Were Hamas to be forced to leave Doha, it is unclear where they would base their political office. Key ally Iran would be an option, although the assassination of former leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July suggests they may be at risk from Israel if based there. It would also not give them anything close to the same diplomatic channels to the West.

Reuters Khaled Meshaal sits in a chair in Doha beside a large picture of JerusalemReuters
Hamas has had a political base in Doha since 2012, reportedly at the request of the Obama administration

A more likely option would be Turkey. As a Nato member but also a Sunni majority state, it would give the group a base from which to operate in relative safety. Last April President Erdogan hosted then Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh and his delegation in Istanbul, where they talked about “what needs to be done to ensure adequate and uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and a fair and lasting peace process in the region".

The move would also most likely be welcomed by Ankara, which has often sought to position itself as a broker between east and west.

It is thought the personal safety of Hamas leadership is now a major concern for the group, which saw two leaders killed in less than four months. As well as Haniyeh’s death in July, in October Israel killed Yahya Sinwar in Gaza - he was the mastermind behind the 7 October Hamas attack on southern Israel.

According to the European Council of Foreign Relations, “Hamas has adopted a temporary model of collective leadership to mitigate the effect of future Israeli assassinations”.

Dr Hellyer thinks that nowhere “will give them protection from Israeli assassination attempts in the same way that being in Doha, where America has its largest military base in the region, did”.

The latest move comes as US officials appear increasingly frustrated with the approach the Israeli government has taken to ending the war. In October, the US Secretaries of State and Defense said if Israel did not allow more humanitarian aid into the territory within 30 days, they would face unspecified policy “implications”.

Last weekend a number of UN officials warned the situation in northern Gaza was “apocalyptic”. On Saturday the independent Famine Review Committee said there was a “strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas”.

The relationship between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu has deteriorated over the course of the war in Gaza, with increasing pressure from Washington to improve the humanitarian situation for the Palestinians and find some sort of negotiated settlement.

But, according to Dr Hellyer, US attempts at negotiation have been fatally flawed.

“By setting red lines and allowing Netanyahu to cross them without consequence, the Biden administration effectively encouraged further impunity. I don’t think any of this will change in the next 10 weeks,” he said.

Any overtures have been repeatedly rejected by Mr Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition, who will now also feel emboldened by the prospect of an incoming Donald Trump presidency.

While exactly what approach Donald Trump will take to the region remains uncertain, he is thought to be more likely to allow Israel to act on its terms.

He has previously said Israel should “finish what they started” in Gaza. During his last term in the White House, he took a number of steps deemed highly favourable to Israel, including moving the US embassy to Jerusalem.

It has also been reported, however, that Trump told Netanyahu that he wants to see an end to the fighting by the time he takes office.

Either way, it seems likely that the current US administration will have less influence over the government in Jerusalem.

They may therefore believe the best way to force some sort of deal is to apply pressure on Hamas. Whether it pays off may depend on whether Qatar, so long a reliable ally, decides to go along with it.

Candyman actor Tony Todd dies aged 69

Getty Images Tony Todd, looking directly to camera. He is wearing a black bowler hat and has light, grey stubble around his jawlineGetty Images
Tony Todd appeared as Candyman in four films, from 1992 to 2021

Actor Tony Todd, best known for starring in the Candyman horror films, has died aged 69.

The American actor died at his home in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, according to reports.

He starred as the title character in the horror series, depicting the ghostly Candyman character with a hook for a hand, summoned by saying his name five times in front of a mirror.

Todd continued as Candyman from the first film in 1992 through follow-ups in 1995 and 1999, and reprised the role in 2021 for a fourth film serving as a direct sequel to the original.

Throughout his 40-year career, Todd also featured in hundreds of films, stage productions and television dramas, including roles in the Transformers and Final Destination films.

In Candyman, Todd's titular character is the ghost of artist Daniel Robitaille, a black man who was lynched in the 19th Century.

The 1992 film sees Todd's character accidentally summoned to the real world by a graduate student in Chicago intrigued by the urban legend of the Candyman, setting off a chain of murderous events.

Speaking to the Guardian in 2019, Todd recalled the film's famous scene that sees Candyman swarmed with bees, during which he was stung 23 times and apparently paid a $1,000 bonus each time.

"Everything that’s worth making has to involve some sort of pain," he remarked.

On his Candyman character, he told the same interview: "I’ve done 200 movies, this is the one that stays in people’s minds. It affects people of all races. I’ve used it as an introductory tool in gang-intervention work: what frightens you? What horrible things have you experienced?"

Paying tribute, actor Virginia Madsen, who starred as student Helen Lyle in Candyman, said Todd "now is an angel. As he was in life".

She called him a "truly poetic man" with "a deep knowledge of the arts".

"I will miss him so much and hope he haunts me once in a while," she added. "But I will not summon him in the mirror!"

Getty Images / TriStar Todd holding on to Virginia Madsen in a scene from 1992's CandymanGetty Images / TriStar
Todd holding on to Virginia Madsen in a scene from 1992's Candyman

The original film's sequel - Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh - set three years later sees Todd's iconic lead appear again in New Orleans, encountering a descendant of his daughter.

The third film - Candyman: Day of the Dead - was released in 1999, but set in 2020 Los Angeles.

Todd, and others from the 1992 film, reprised their roles in the 2021 film.

In 2020, Todd called that version "brilliant", crediting the film's director Nia DaCosta as "a fan of body horror".

As part of her tribute, Madsen praised the "gift" that the film's co-writer Jordan Peele had given herself and Todd to "let us live again as lovers".

Before Candyman, one of Todd's earliest roles in film was in 1986 as Sgt Warren in war drama Platoon.

Who's in the frame to join Trump's new top team?

Getty Images A composite photograph of Elon Musk, wearing his signature blazer and t-shirt combination as he's interviewed, Susie Wiles, who has a cropped grey hair do, in a black turtleneck and red jacket, and RFK Jr with short grey hair, wearing a navy tie with flamingos on and a grey suitGetty Images
Elon Musk and RFK Jr are among Trump's most prominent backers, while Susie Wiles (centre) co-managed his election campaign

Donald Trump's transition team is already vetting potential candidates who could serve in his administration when he returns to the White House in January.

On Thursday, he made the first announcement naming his campaign co-manager Susan Summerall Wiles as his White House chief of staff.

Many of the figures who served under Trump in his first term do not plan to return, though a handful of loyalists are rumoured to be making a comeback.

But the US president-elect is now surrounded by a new cast of characters who may fill his cabinet, staff his White House and serve in key roles across government.

Here is a look at the some of the names being floated for the top jobs.

Robert F Kennedy Jr

Reuters RFK Jr, who has grey hair, wears a grey suit, with a white shirt and navy patterned tie, as he waves at crowds at a Trump rally in MichiganReuters

The past two years have been quite a journey for the nephew of former President John F Kennedy.

An environmental lawyer by trade, he ran for president as a Democrat, with most of his family speaking out against his anti-vaccine views and conspiracy theories as they endorsed Joe Biden's re-election.

He then switched to an independent candidacy but, failing to gain traction amid a series of controversies, dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump.

In the last two months of the 2024 election cycle, he spearheaded a Trump campaign initiative called "Make America Healthy Again".

Trump recently promised he would play a major role related to public health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Safety Administration (FDA).

RFK Jr, as he is known, recently asserted he would push to remove fluoride from drinking water because "it's a very bad way to deliver it into our systems" - though this has been challenged by some experts.

And in an interview with NBC News, Kennedy rejected the idea that he was "anti-vaccine", saying he wouldn't "take away anybody's vaccines" but rather provide them with "the best information" to make their own choices.

Rather than a formal cabinet position, Kennedy used the interview to suggest he could take on a broader role within the White House.

Susie Wiles

Reuters Susie Wiles, who has a grey cropped haircut, wears gold hoop earrings with a gold pendant necklace and a black top underneath a baby blue blazer which has a white and gold brooch on it as she looks on during a Trump rallyReuters

Trump's landslide victory over Kamala Harris was masterminded by campaign co-chairs Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, who he referred to in his victory speech on Wednesday as "the ice baby".

She has since been confirmed to be the incoming chief of staff under the second Trump administration - Trump's first confirmed appointment for his second term - making her the first woman to take on the role.

Wiles, who Trump claimed "likes to stay in the background”, is considered one of the most feared and respected political operatives in the country.

Less than a year after she started working in politics, she worked on Ronald Reagan’s successful 1980 presidential campaign and later became a scheduler in his White House.

In 2010, she turned Rick Scott, a then-businessman with little political experience, into Florida’s governor in just seven months. Scott is now a US senator.

Wiles met Trump during the 2015 Republican presidential primary and she became the co-chair of his Florida campaign, at the time considered a swing state. Trump went on to narrowly defeat Hillary Clinton there in 2016.

Wiles has been commended by Republicans for her ability to command respect and check the big egos of those in the president-elect's orbit, which could enable her to impose a sense of order that none of his four previous chiefs of staff could.

Elon Musk

Reuters Elon Musk, wearing a black 'Make America Great Again' cap, a black blazer and grey emblazoned t-shirt, points to a sign for Donald Trump's presidential campaign as he speaks at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania Reuters

The world's richest man announced his support for the former president earlier this year, despite saying in 2022 that "it's time for Trump to hang up his hat and sail into the sunset".

The tech billionaire has since emerged as one of the most visible and well-known backers of Trump and donated more than $119m (£91.6m) this election cycle to America PAC - a political action committee he created to support the former president.

Musk, the head of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of the social media platform X, also launched a voter registration drive that included a $1m (£771,000) give-away to a random swing-state voter each day during the closing stretch of the campaign.

Since registering as a Republican ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, Musk has been increasingly vocal on issues including illegal immigration and transgender rights.

Both Musk and Trump have concentrated on the idea of him leading a new "Department of Government Efficiency", where he would cut costs, reform regulations and streamline what he calls a "massive, suffocating federal bureaucracy".

The would-be agency's acronym - DOGE - is a playful reference to a "meme-coin" cryptocurrency Musk has previously promoted.

Mike Pompeo

Reuters Mike Pompeo, who has neat grey hair brushed to the side, wears a grey suit, white shirt and red tie as he testifies before the House Select Committee in WashingtonReuters

The former Kansas congressman served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and then secretary of state during Trump's first administration.

A foreign policy hawk and a fierce supporter of Israel, he played a highly visible role in moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He was among the key players in the implementation of the Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

He remained a loyal defender of his boss, joking that there would be "a smooth transition to a second Trump administration" amid Trump's false claims of election fraud in late 2020.

He has been tipped as a top contender for the role of defence secretary, alongside Michael Waltz, a Florida lawmaker and military veteran who sits on the armed services committee in the US House of Representatives.

Richard Grenell

Reuters Richard Grenell, who has short brown hair, wears a blue suit jacket and white shirt, as she stands in front of a microphone onstage at a conventionReuters

Richard Grenell served as Trump's ambassador to Germany, special envoy to the Balkans and his acting director of national intelligence.

The Republican was also heavily involved in Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, in the swing state of Nevada.

Trump prizes Grenell's loyalty and has described him as "my envoy".

In September, he sat in on Trump's private meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The former president has often claimed he will end the war in Ukraine "within 24 hours" of taking office and Grenell has advocated for setting up an autonomous zone in eastern Ukraine as a means to that end - an idea seen as unacceptable by Kyiv.

He's considered a contender for secretary of state or national security advisor, a position that does not require Senate confirmation.

Karoline Leavitt

Reuters Karoline Leavitt, who has straight blonde shoulder-length hair, and wears a silver cross necklace with a cream coat, beams during a rally in 2022Reuters
Karoline Leavitt was Trump campaign's spokeswoman

The Trump 2024 campaign's national press secretary previously served in his White House press office, as an assistant press secretary.

The 27-year-old Gen-Zer made a bid to become the youngest woman ever elected to the US Congress in 2022, to represent a seat in her home state of New Hampshire, but fell short.

She is tipped to become the White House press secretary - the most public-facing position in the cabinet.

Tom Homan

Getty Images A photo of Tom Homan delivering an address in Salem, Ohio in March 2024Getty Images

Tom Homan served as the acting director of the US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Ice) during the first Trump administration, where he was a proponent of separating migrant children from their parents as a way to deter illegal crossings.

At the time, he made headlines for saying politicians who support sanctuary city policies should be charged with crimes. He later resigned from his Ice position in 2018, mid-way through the Trump presidency.

He has since emerged as a key figure in developing Trump's mass migrant deportation plan, and has been floated as a potential pick to head the Department of Homeland Security.

Homan spoke on the deportation plan last month in an interview with BBC's US partner CBS News, saying that "it's not going to be - a mass sweep of neighbourhoods."

"They'll be targeted arrests. We’ll know who we’re going to arrest, where we’re most likely to find ‘em based on numerous, you know, investigative processes," he said.

美国2024:大选之夜的欢庆与失落


重返:这是纽约曼哈顿一名特朗普支持者在选举之夜的共和党活动上。初步计票结果显示,共和党在参议院获得多数,特朗普在关键摇摆州宾夕法尼亚、北卡罗莱纳和佐治亚获胜。

宣布自己获胜:美东时间6日凌晨,共和党总统候选人特朗普在佛州西棕榈滩发表演说,宣布自己获胜。而世界领导人也开始向他祝贺:泽连斯基、内塔尼亚胡、梅洛尼、欧尔班、马克龙、莫迪、肖尔茨... ...

“黄金时代”:在拉斯维加斯,特朗普的支持者边听他的讲话边欢呼。特朗普在讲话中称,美国未来将迎来“黄金时代”。

卡玛拉·哈里斯的支持者:而在卡玛拉·哈里斯的母校华盛顿的霍华德大学,她的支持者也获悉初步选举结果。

选举日的卡玛拉·哈里斯:选举当天,卡玛拉·哈里斯还前往民主党总部的一次电话动员活动,并出人意料地与志愿者一道,给人们打电话,鼓励他们投票,或询问他们是否已经投票。

失落:这是卡玛拉·哈里斯的一名支持者在霍华德大学为哈里斯举行的选举之夜活动上。当夜,哈里斯在母校并未向公众讲话。


巴基斯坦火车站遭炸弹袭击致数十人死亡


2024-11-09T12:35:42.299Z
巴基斯坦西南部俾路支省首府奎达遭遇炸弹袭击

(德国之声中文网)巴基斯坦西南部俾路支省首府奎达(Quetta)的一处火车站周六(11月9日)遭遇炸弹袭击,造成至少26人死亡,约60人受伤,部分伤者伤势严重。俾路支警察总监安萨里(Mouzzam Jah Ansari)表示,袭击的目标是步兵学校的军人。警方称,死者包括十几名士兵和六名铁路员工。电视画面显示,站台顶棚被炸得四分五裂,一个茶摊被炸毁,行李被炸得粉碎。

警方高级警司巴罗赫(Muhammad Baloch)表示,袭击者显然是发动了自杀式炸弹袭击,调查行动正在进行中。“爆炸发生在火车站,当时开往白沙瓦(Peshawar)的特快火车正要发车。” 爆炸发生时,有许多旅客进出车站。

分离主义组织俾路支解放军(BLA)声称发动了袭击。

巴基斯坦总理谢里夫谴责了这起袭击事件。他在一份声明中表示:“伤害无辜平民的恐怖分子将付出沉重的代价。”

车站顶棚的钢结构被炸得支离破碎

针对基础设施和安全部队的袭击

俾路支省位于巴基斯坦西南部,与阿富汗和伊朗接壤,是该国最贫困的省份。数十年来,分离主义组织一直在此与安全部队对抗。巴基斯坦塔利班等伊斯兰组织也活跃于此。当地多次发生武装袭击事件。今年八月,至少 73 人在分离主义分子对俾路支省警察局、铁路线和高速公路的袭击中丧生。

俾路支解放军是这个资源丰富地区最活跃的武装分裂运动。近年来,该民兵组织加强了对安全部队和来自邻近省份的巴基斯坦人的攻击。他们也将目标瞄准中国在该地区的大型项目。该省的极端分子指控北京政府窃取土地和资源。

(美联社、路透社、法新社)

© 2024年德国之声版权声明:本文所有内容受到著作权法保护,如无德国之声特别授权,不得擅自使用。任何不当行为都将导致追偿,并受到刑事追究。

What's at stake in the Irish general election?

PA Media Simon Harris is speaking to the media. He has salt and pepper coloured hair and brown eyes. He's wearing a grey coat and a black suit with a white shirt and a red and white tie. He's standing outside. The background is blurred but trees and foliage can be seen.PA Media
This will be the first major electoral test for the Fine Gael leader

When a politician insists they are not planning to call an election, it is best practice not to believe them.

Simon Harris is now among that rank of party leaders.

Having claimed for months that he wanted his government to serve its full term into next year, the temptation of positive polls has clearly proved too much.

In October the three parties of government agreed that the general election would take place this year - yesterday Harris officially called the election and asked the President Higgins to dissolve the Dáil.

But while this is the first major electoral test for the Fine Gael leader, for his political opponents there is just as much at stake.

Getty Images Mary Lou McDonald celebrates with her supporters after being elected at the RDS Count centre in 2020. She has a wide smile and she's surrounded by people cheering and clapping.Getty Images
Sinn Féin surprised political rivals when they won 37 seats at the last general election four years ago

At the last general election four years ago, Sinn Féin - the main opposition party in the Republic - surprised political rivals and pundits alike when they made significant gains, winning 37 seats and securing the most first preference votes of any party.

It marked a break with the two-party governing system, traditionally dominated by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, signalling a huge shift in support for the all-island party.

Senior party members acknowledged their tactics had been too cautious and could have won more seats if they had run more candidates.

They declared victory even though the larger parties refused to enter government with them, and insisted next time round that party president Mary Lou McDonald would be elected as the first female taoiseach (Irish prime minister).

But this time, there is little to no expectation of the party managing a repeat performance.

PA Media A counter is holding some election ballots in his hand. He's wearing a green jumper that says some craic and a badge that says, count staff.PA Media
Sinn Féin suffered recent losses at the local elections and in the European elections

The first sign that all was not well came in the form of disappointing local government and European election results over the summer.

Sinn Féin put the losses and drop in opinion polls down to a range of factors and insisted it would "regroup" ahead of the general election, but time to do that has been much shorter than it would have liked.

There is also additional pressure on the party after it was revealed that two press officers provided references for a former party employee who was being investigated by police for child sex offences. They have since resigned.

Then, in October, it emerged that Sinn Féin senator Niall Ó Donnghaile had not quit the party in December 2023 for health reasons, as the party had said.

Mr Ó Donnghaile had been suspended from the party months earlier for sending inappropriate texts to a teenager.

McDonald had to answer questions in the Dáil over the party's handling of the issue.

PA Media An early morning operation to remove tents which have been pitched by asylum seekers along a stretch of the Grand Canal, Dublin. There are numerous tents and people in high-viz jackets and a garda can be seen in the background.PA Media
Recent polling suggested that housing and immigration are major issues for voters

An issue that has also proved tricky for Sinn Féin and other parties is failing to spell out how to manage immigration.

It has become a major social and political issue in Ireland after the country accepted a large number of Ukrainian refugees, alongside an increase in other sources of immigration.

Between March and December 2022 almost 68,000 people arrived in Ireland from Ukraine under the EU’s temporary protection directive.

That sudden and unprecedented influx placed significant pressure on Irish state resources, with the government having to take measures such as temporarily housing people in tents.

Ireland’s government was already struggling with a housing crisis before the increase in immigration.

Right-wing protesters have held a series of demonstrations at asylum accommodation centres and some buildings earmarked for asylum seekers have been burnt down.

Recent polling suggested that housing and immigration are major issues for voters - a fact that will not go unnoticed by the parties, but one they will all struggle with.

Bonanza budget

As for Fine Gael, Simon Harris goes into this election hoping for stronger results than his predecessor Leo Varadkar managed in 2020, when the party lost 15 seats.

Unable to form a government by itself, it sought to form a coalition government with Fianna Fáil and the Green Party - an agreement that took four months to negotiate.

There is no doubt Fine Gael has felt a bounce with Harris stepping into the top job.

He still faces a challenge to prove to voters that his party should continue to govern after almost two decades, but having thrown the electorate a bonanza budget with extra cash for lots of sectors, hope is high in the party that it will see an improved performance.

PA Media Micháel Martin speaking to the media as he leaves a Remembrance Sunday service. He's wearing a poppy badge on his navy coat and a white shirt with a blue tie.PA Media
Micheál Martin has led Fianna Fáil for 13 years

When it comes to Fianna Fáil, its leader Micheál Martin has spent the last four years rotating through the top two jobs in elected politics.

First as taoiseach, taking over from Leo Varadkar for the first half of the term as part of the coalition arrangements, before becoming Tánaiste (Irish deputy prime minister) and Ireland's foreign affairs minister in 2022 - a role that has seen him heavily engaged in political events north of the border too.

His party narrowly won the most seats in 2020, pipping Sinn Féin’s 37 seats with just one more.

Recent polls have shown the party sitting on about 20%.

Whether the party does better than last time or struggles against Fine Gael will determine how Fianna Fáil views Micheál Martin’s future as leader, after 13 years in the job.

The success of independent candidates and some of the smaller parties in the recent council elections is a factor that could back come into play this time.

Elections always bring twists and turns, soundbites from candidates who come to regret them and sometimes, a moment that truly shifts the dial.

The Republic of Ireland is now set to see all that as the campaign machine grinds into gear once more.

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