Month: March 2023

The politicians from the Freedom Party (FPÖ) argued Mr Zelensky’s speech violated Austria’s neutrality.

They warned ahead of the speech they would hold some form of protest against the address.

Austria has previously said it cannot help Ukraine’s defence militarily, but does support Kyiv politically.

In a video address, Mr Zelensky thanked Austria for its humanitarian assistance and help clearing land mines. He was speaking on the 400th day of Russian invasion.

He also invited MPs to travel to Ukraine for themselves and see the destruction caused.

The president of Austria’s lower house of parliament, Wolfgang Sobotka, pledged more financial and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and said the country deserved Austria’s solidarity.

But as Mr Zelensky spoke, a group of politicians walked out and left placards on their desk with the party logo that read “space for neutrality” and “space for peace”.

There are 30 FPÖ politicians in Austria’s lower chamber and they were the only party to oppose Mr Zelensky’s address.

The Freedom Party has prompted anger in the past for its pro-Russian stance. In 2018, when the FPÖ’s Karin Kneissl was foreign minister, she was criticised for dancing with President Vladimir Putin at her wedding.

Of the five parties in Austria’s parliament, they hold the third largest number of seats in the lower house. They have previously been part of Austria’s government.

Austria’s “permanent neutrality” has been part of its constitution since 1955.

The law states “Austria will never in the future accede to any military alliances nor permit the establishment of military bases of foreign states on her territory”.

The details of the case against him have not yet been released.

A grand jury has voted to indict him after investigating a $130,000 pay-out to Stormy Daniels in an attempt to buy her silence over an alleged affair.

Mr Trump, 76, denies wrongdoing. He is the first serving or former US president to face a criminal charge.

The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who has been pursuing the investigation, confirmed that it had contacted Mr Trump’s attorney to “co-ordinate his surrender” on unspecified charges.

The ex-president, who lives in Florida, is expected to fly to New York on Monday and be arraigned in court on Tuesday, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

The charges in the indictment will be read to him at the hearing, which is set to last about 10-15 minutes.

The United States Secret Service – which is tasked with protecting serving and former US presidents – will be in charge of security for the court appearance.

In 2016, adult film star Stormy Daniels contacted media outlets offering to sell her account of what she said was an adulterous affair she had with Donald Trump in 2006 – the year after he married his current wife, Melania.

Mr Trump’s team got wind of this, and his lawyer Michael Cohen paid $130,000 to Ms Daniels to keep quiet. This is not illegal.

However, when Mr Trump reimbursed his lawyer, the record for the payment says it was for legal fees. Prosecutors say this amounts to Mr Trump falsifying business records, which is a misdemeanour – a criminal offence – in New York.

Prosecutors could also potentially allege that this breaks election law, because his attempt to hide his payments to Ms Daniels were motivated by not wanting voters to know he had an affair with her.

Covering up a crime by falsifying records would be a felony, which is a more serious charge. Even advocates for prosecution acknowledge that either way, this is by no means a clear-cut case.

There is little precedent for such a prosecution, and past attempts to charge politicians with crossing the line between campaign finance and personal spending have ended in failure.

Mr Trump now faces the prospect of having his fingerprints recorded and his mugshot taken, like all defendants in criminal cases.

In a statement, Mr Trump lashed out at the Manhattan district attorney. He called the prosecutor a “disgrace”, and accused him of “doing Joe Biden’s dirty work”.

“The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable – indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference,” he said.

Mr Trump has repeatedly slammed the investigation in his hometown of New York as a political “witch hunt” led by his opponents.

Mr Bragg, who is a registered Democrat, has denied pursuing a political vendetta against Mr Trump. “We evaluate cases in our jurisdiction based on the facts, the law, and the evidence,” he tweeted earlier this month.

Mr Trump’s lawyer, Susan Necheles, said in a statement: “He did not commit any crime. We will vigorously fight this political prosecution in court.”

Following the indictment, Ms Daniels thanked her supporters. “I have so many messages coming in that I can’t respond… also don’t want to spill my champagne,” she tweeted.

The criminal case could shape the 2024 presidential race. Mr Trump is currently the front-runner among all declared and potential contenders for the Republican White House nomination.

But there is nothing in US law that prevents a candidate who is found guilty of a crime from campaigning for, and serving as, president – even from prison.

His campaign sent out fundraising emails on Thursday evening, citing the indictment.

Top congressional Republicans are rallying behind Mr Trump.

House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy said: “Alvin Bragg has irreparably damaged our country in an attempt to interfere in our Presidential election.

“As he routinely frees violent criminals to terrorize the public, he weaponized our sacred system of justice against President Donald Trump.”

But Democrats welcomed the indictment, arguing it showed no-one was above the law.

Congressman Adam Schiff said: “The indictment and arrest of a former president is unique throughout all of American history.

“But so too is the unlawful conduct for which Trump has been charged.”

Mr Trump is also being investigated in several other cases.

They include probes into his role in the US Capitol riot of January 2021, his efforts to overturn his loss in the state of Georgia in the 2020 election, and his handling of classified documents after leaving office.

Mr Trump – who served as president from 2017-21 – was twice impeached by the House of Representatives. He was acquitted by the Senate both times.

Fourteen others have been rescued and one person is still missing in the accident that took place in Indore city.

Police said the victims were standing on a concrete slab over the well when it collapsed under their weight.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “extremely pained by the mishap”.

The incident took place on Thursday during a prayer ceremony organised at Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal temple on the occasion of Hindu festival of Ram Navami.

A large crowd of devotees were standing on the concrete slab covering the well which collapsed under their weight, plunging dozens of people into the almost 40ft (12m) deep well.

Local media reported that the temple was constructed after the well had been covered about four decades ago.

Senior official Illayaraja T told ANI news channel that 18 people were admitted to the hospital after being rescued and two people have been discharged so far. He added that a search operation is still underway to find the missing person.

A team of 75 personnel, including those from the state and national disaster response forces are engaged in rescue efforts.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced a compensation of 500,000 rupees ($6000; £4900) to the kin of the deceased and 50,000 rupees to the injured.

Mr Modi tweeted his condolences to the victims’ families and also announced a compensation of 200,000 rupees for them.

Turkey had delayed Finland’s bid to join the West’s defensive alliance for months – complaining the Nordic nation was supporting “terrorists”.

Sweden, which applied to join Nato at the same time last May, is still being blocked by Ankara over similar complaints.

Any Nato expansion needs the support of all its members.

Finland will now be formally admitted into Nato at its next summit, taking place in July in Lithuania. Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Twitter: “I look forward to raising Finland’s flag at Nato HQ in the coming days. Together we are stronger and safer.”

In a statement following the Turkish vote, the Finnish government said joining the alliance would strengthen the country’s security, and improve stability and security in the region.

“As allies, we will give and receive security. We will defend each other. Finland stands with Sweden now and in the future and supports its application,” Prime Minister Sanna Marin wrote on Twitter.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave his approval to Finland’s bid earlier this month, praising the country’s “authentic and concrete steps” on Turkish security.

But his ongoing hostility to Sweden was clear – as he again accused the country of embracing Kurdish militants and allowing them to demonstrate on the streets of Stockholm.

Ankara’s decision to ratify Finland’s membership clears the way for one of the most important moments in Nato’s recent history.

Finland, a country with a 1,340km (832 mile) border with Russia and one of the most powerful arsenals of artillery pieces in Western Europe, is ditching its neutrality and joining the alliance in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Sweden also abandoned a longstanding commitment to neutrality in applying to join Nato, but unlike its neighbour it does not share a border with Russia.

One of Nato’s founding principles is the principle of collective defence – meaning an attack on one member nation is treated as an attack on them all.

For Russian President Vladimir Putin, Finland’s accession is a major strategic setback.

He sent his army into Ukraine last year in the expectation it would check Nato’s expansion and weaken the West. In fact, it has achieved the exact opposite.

Finland is now set to become the seventh Nato country on the Baltic Sea, further isolating Russia’s coastal access at St Petersburg and on its small exclave of Kaliningrad.

Russia’s foreign ministry earlier condemned Finland’s decision, saying it was ill-considered and based on Russophobic hysteria.

But Finnish public opinion has been radically altered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Almost overnight last spring, support for Nato membership leapt from an underwhelming one-third of Finns to almost 80%.

Finland simply believes it stands a better chance of not being attacked by Russia if it joins the alliance.

Mr Yousaf’s first FMQs session was hit by a series of disruptions from climate activists.

The public gallery in the Holyrood chamber was eventually cleared after the session had to be suspended five times in the first 15 minutes.

The presiding officer later announced tougher action against the protesters.

Such interruptions have been an almost weekly occurrence during recent FMQs.

Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone has pledged to take action to stop them, with mobile phones already having been banned in the gallery.

She later said there would be “more stringent measures” to identify those responsible, and a change to the parliament’s visitor policy which would ban those individuals from the public gallery for six months.

The first suspension of proceedings came before Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross had even managed to ask his first question to Mr Yousaf, who was sworn in as Nicola Sturgeon’s successor as first minister on Wednesday.

There were then a series of further interruptions during Mr Ross’s exchanges with Mr Yousaf, with the presiding officer eventually calling on police and court officials to remove the public from the gallery.

Ms Johnstone said: “I don’t think I can adequately express my deep regret that such action is required in our national parliament.

“I’m extremely sorry for the overwhelming majority of those who have travelled to the parliament today to watch their elected representatives at work.”

After one group of schoolchildren was allowed to remain in the gallery, SNP MSP Stuart McMillan asked that another school group from his constituency also be allowed to return – prompting a further suspension.

Mr Yousaf told the presiding officer he agreed with her decision to clear the gallery, and praised the school pupils for “behaving much better than some of the adults that were in the public gallery”.

Mr Ross blasted the protesters, saying: “This shower have been doing this week after week, and the image of genuine constituents being forced out of our parliament is one we will all regret and one none of us want to see repeated.”

He said he was grateful that schoolchildren had been permitted to remain, but added: “We must do something to stop this going forward.”

Protests have become a regular feature of FMQs in recent months, but today might have been a new record with FIVE inside the first set of questions.

Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone told MSPs that there are plans to try to crack down on this.

But they chiefly consist of banning the use of mobile phones in the chamber and it is not clear if they will have a decisive effect.

Indeed given the protests consist entirely of people shouting, it’s difficult to think of a foolproof method to actually prevent them.

The public gallery has been cleared for today.

The absolute last resort would be to bar people from sitting there at all – something which the parliamentary authorities will be loathe to consider, given that transparent scrutiny is the whole point of Holyrood.

The session followed three days of ceremony and procedure since Mr Yousaf’s election as SNP leader on Monday.

He won the backing of the majority of MSPs to become first minister on Tuesday before being sworn in at the Court of Session on Wednesday.

He has named a nine-strong cabinet team, with his new deputy Shona Robison taking over the finance brief from Kate Forbes. Six of the nine cabinet members are women and there are five members under 40.

Ms Forbes, who was narrowly defeated by Mr Yousaf in the leadership contest, turned down a move from finance secretary to rural affairs – which would generally be seen as a demotion – and is now sitting as a backbench MSP.

Mr Yousaf’s appointments came under fire from Mr Ross, who described his team as a “cabinet of lackeys”.

Mr Ross pointed out that key ministerial posts relating to tourism and social security were abolished while Mr Yousaf had appointed a new minister for independence.

“It’s the same old from the SNP, another nationalist leader, when Scotland needs a national leader,” he told the chamber.

And he questioned whether having a minister for independence was a priority for the people of Scotland.

Mr Yousaf said he made no apology for having a minister focused on independence, saying it was now more important than ever for Scotland to leave the UK.

In his question to Mr Yousaf, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar focused on Scotland’s mental health crisis, saying that more than 11,000 children and young people waited more than the 18-week standard and over 14,000 had referrals rejected entirely.

Mr Yousaf said Mr Sarwar did not acknowledge the global impact of the Covid pandemic, but offered an apology and “deep regret” for anyone who had to wait longer than they should.

He added that the Scottish government was taking action on recovery and the number of children starting treatment in the most recent quarter was the highest figure on record.

The first minister said the overall mental health treatment waiting lists for young people had decreased by about 777, while the number of children waiting more than 18 weeks had dropped by 1,110.

He added that there had been a 41.9% drop in the number waiting more than 52 weeks.