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Irish President Michael D Higgins slammed what he called “outrageous” threats against the peacekeepers from the Israel Defense Forces that “sought to have them evacuate the villages that they are defending”. His intervention came days before Ireland’s premier was due to visit the White House.Ireland has 347 peacekeeping troops stationed in southern Lebanon as part of a joint battalion with Polish soldiers. Two of the 25 outposts on the Blue Line in effect dividing Lebanon from Israel and the Golan Heights are under Irish command.Irish troops have been serving as peacekeepers in Lebanon since 1978 and government and military officials insist morale among Irish troops is good.Capt Kenny said Irish troops had not come under fire directly but “on occasion, and when appropriate, they take cover in protective installations [bunkers]”.“We view our presence there as essential. We are the eyes and ears of the international community. Our aim is to provide the space for diplomacy to happen and the delivery of humanitarian aid as necessary,” he added.Higgins, in his statement on Saturday, called Israel’s demand that Irish peacekeepers leave “an insult” both to the UN and to the soldiers risking their lives. An Irish peacekeeper, Private Seán Rooney, was killed in an attack on a convoy in Lebanon in December 2022.
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Chinese authorities are demanding that a growing number of schoolteachers and other public sector employees hand in their passports as President Xi Jinping tightens his grip on society.The passport collection drive, carried out under what is known as “personal travel abroad management”, allows local government officials to control and monitor who can travel abroad, how often and to where.It comes as Xi steps up state involvement in everyday life and clamps down on official corruption. China’s powerful state security apparatus has also intensified its campaign against foreign espionage.Interviews with more than a dozen Chinese public sector workers and notices from education bureaus in half a dozen cities show restrictions on international travel have been greatly expanded from last year to include rank-and-file employees of schools, universities, local governments and state-owned groups. “All teachers and public sector employees were told to hand in our passports,” said a primary school teacher in a major city in the western province of Sichuan.The passport collection appears to be based on national regulations from 2003 that established a system to restrict travel for key personnel such as mid- to high-level officials and allowed local authorities to set rules for all state employees’ international travel.
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Donald Trump’s transition team co-chair has warned that people appointed to the former president’s next administration must prove their “loyalty” and slammed the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 as “radioactive”. Howard Lutnick, who is also the head of investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, told the Financial Times that Trump would execute his agenda at a “speed no one’s ever done before” if he was elected again in November. But after the infighting and staff turnover that characterised the Republican nominee’s first term in office, Lutnick said appointees to a new Trump administration would need to show “fidelity” to the agenda and the president himself.“Those people were not pure to his vision,” Lutnick said, referring to senior advisers who quit Trump’s White House or became hostile to his presidency. “They’re all going to be on the same side, and they’re all going to understand the policies, and we’re going to give people the role based on their capacity — and their fidelity and loyalty to the policy, as well as to the man.” In an interview in New York, Lutnick also dismissed Project 2025, the controversial blueprint for the Trump administration created by conservative think-tank the Heritage Foundation.
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Republicans are looking to avoid a disaster in the Nebraska Senate race amid signs that an independent candidate could be giving Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) a run for her money.Independent Senate candidate and political newcomer Dan Osborn is challenging Fischer for her seat, betting that Nebraskans are hungry for a nonpartisan senator in a state former President Trump won by close to 20 points in 2020.Despite Nebraska’s reliably red political leanings, the dynamics of the race have shifted in recent weeks: Republican groups have started spending in the race, and the nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report last week shifted the race away from Fischer.“As a pragmatist and a realist, generally in politics, you don’t spend money if you’re not worried or at least interested in making sure that you protect your seat,” said Brent Comstock, a consultant in the Cornhusker State who primarily works with Democrats.“He’s appealing to the average moderate Nebraskan who realizes that one, the political parties are challenging, and two, that people want to elect someone who stands up for their rights and not for a party boss,” he added, while noting the clear Republican registration edge in the state.Osborn, who has leaned into his bio as a steamfitter who led a major strike against Kellogg’s in 2021 in Omaha, has started to pick up traction in the Nebraska Senate race.Outside groups Retire Career Politicians PAC and Nebraska Railroaders for Public Safety have poured money into the race in support of Osborn, including at least $3.2 million from the Retire Career Politicians PAC alone, according to AdImpact. Both groups have received sizable contributions from the liberal-leaning dark money group Sixteen Thirty Fund.
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California Democrats, energised by native daughter Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, are trying to flip six congressional districts that Republicans have dominated for years, regaining control of the US House of Representatives in the process.The “Harris effect” has given Democrats a slight polling boost in some of the races, raising hopes within the party that deep-blue California will deliver them a majority in the House. Victories in these seats would also tighten the Democrats’ grip on the state, despite criticism of the party’s leadership there on issues ranging from homelessness and business competitiveness to crime and the cost of living.The outcome of the California races — along with a handful of contests in another blue state, New York — could determine whether the winner of the presidential election will be able to push through his or her legislative agenda.The Republicans have a narrow majority in the House of just eight seats, with three vacancies. Most forecasters expect the Republicans to regain control of the Senate in the November election, so if they are able to hold on to enough congressional seats in California they could limit the ambitions of a Harris administration, or give her rival Donald Trump considerable room to manoeuvre.
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Kamala Harris’s lack of traction with unionized blue-collar workers has emerged as one of her biggest challenges to winning key states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania, as polls show her significantly underperforming Joe Biden’s performance with union workers in 2020.Harris’s tenuous relationship with elements of organized labor is reflected by the decisions of the Teamsters and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) not to endorse her presidential campaign.She narrowly avoided disaster when President Biden helped avert a prolonged a port workers strike by brokering a tentative labor deal with the International Longshoremen’s Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance on Thursday.Especially concerning for Democrats is that Harris isn’t even polling as well as Hillary Clinton did in 2016 among union voters.Notably, Clinton ended up losing two key states, Michigan and Pennsylvania, where unions represent more than 14 percent of the workforce.The loss of those two traditionally Democratic-leaning states along with Wisconsin propelled Trump to the White House.Clinton led Trump among labor voters by 12 points eight years ago, while Harris now leads Trump by only 9 points, according to polling data aggregated by CNN.
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