Latest news with #politicalscandal
Fox News
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
The Biden Coup
Hunter Biden comes out of hiding to air his party's dirtiest laundry and unmask the crooked machine that couped his dad — and it's the democrats' worst nightmare. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit FOX News Radio
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Sheinbaum Ally Hit by Scandal Over Alleged Ties to Drug Cartels
A bubbling political scandal reaching into the senior ranks of Mexico's ruling party is threatening to chip away at President Claudia Sheinbaum's carefully constructed image as a crime fighter. The leftist Morena party's Senate leader, Adán Augusto López, finds himself at the center of the storm, after an arrest warrant was issued for his top security official when López previously served as governor of southern Tabasco state. The warrant cites alleged links to organized crime.
SBS Australia
2 days ago
- Politics
- SBS Australia
'You can't erase history': Labor to keep Latham party room portrait, with added disclaimer
A picture of former Labor leader Mark Latham will keep hanging in the party's caucus room as he faces domestic violence allegations. Latham is accused by his former partner Nathalie Matthews of a "sustained pattern" of abuse. Latham strongly denies the untested claims made in a civil court apprehended violence order application by Matthews, saying he has "broken no laws". Calls have grown since the allegations were raised for his official portrait in Labor's federal party room to be removed. But a Labor caucus meeting on Monday was told a "unanimous consensus position" had been reached where the photo would remain, but with a caption providing context. The words will read: "In 2017 Mark Latham was expelled from the Australian Labor Party and banned for life. His actions do not accord with Labor values and fail to meet the standards we expect and demand." Latham sits as an independent in the NSW upper house and faces calls to resign over sexually explicit messages allegedly sent to his former partner while sitting in the chamber of parliament. Portraits of former federal Labor leaders John Curtin, Frank Forde, Ben Chifley, Kim Beazley, Simon Crean and Mark Latham in the Labor caucus room. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas The decision to add context to Latham's portrait was the right one, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said. "It's finding the balance, you can't erase history, we can't pretend he wasn't our leader, he was and so there he sits in the leaders' timeline," she told reporters in Canberra. "But it's a recognition ... his behaviour and attitudes don't reflect the modern Australian Labor Party." Gallagher said the wording allowed people to feel something had been done. "It will exist there forever on our leaders wall," she said. "It's a pretty strong statement." Latham lost his bid for the nation's top job at the 2004 federal election to former Liberal prime minister John Howard. The campaign was marked by his aggressive handshake with Howard outside the ABC's radio studios on election-eve. The infamous episode was largely blamed for his election defeat and delivered the Howard government a fourth term. The Federal Court in 2024 ordered Latham pay independent NSW politician Alex Greenwich $140,000 in damages over a homophobic social media post.
ABC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks out against 'repulsive' Mark Latham, opens up on meeting with Xi Jinping
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he regrets Mark Latham ever having led the Labor Party and described the former leader's views as "repulsive". The comments came during a wide-ranging interview with 7.30 in which Mr Albanese spoke on his trip to China, his relationship with President Xi Jinping and whether he felt the US would be concerned by their meeting. While Mr Albanese was in China, Mr Latham — now an independent NSW MP — faced mounting pressure to resign following allegations he participated in a consensual sex video in his parliamentary office, an allegation that arose as part of a wide-ranging complaint of emotional and physical abuse by his ex-partner Nathalie Matthews. Mr Latham has denied breaking any laws or breaching legislative standing orders and as a former Labor leader his portrait still hangs in the Labor caucus room in Parliament House. Federal Labor decided on Monday that the portrait will remain hanging and new text will be added, reading: "In 2017, Mark Latham was expelled from the Australian Labor Party and banned for life. His actions do not accord with Labor values and fail to meet the standards we expect and demand". Tanya Plibersek previously told the ABC that Mr Latham's election to the party leadership was the only thing that made her cry during a long political career. Mr Albanese was asked if he wanted to take the picture down and, while he stopped short, he did comment on Mr Latham's leadership. "I didn't want Mark Latham to be the leader of the Labor Party, and was very clear about that at the time," Mr Albanese told 7.30 before speaking about the decision to keep the portrait hanging. "It's a historical fact. It's a bit like statues and a range of things, history is there. The way to deal with that is to point out the changes that have occurred. Mr Latham was elected to the leadership of federal Labor in December 2003 when he defeated Kim Beazley. He would go on to lose the 2004 federal election to Coalition prime minister John Howard, dropping five extra seats in a landslide defeat. Mr Albanese told 7.30 it was lamentable Mr Latham was ever in that position. "That's something I fought very hard on when I was one of the people doing the numbers for Kim Beazley in that ballot. "I think that history has proven that judgement to be correct." Mr Albanese expanded on his private lunch appointment with Xi Jinping, which he told Nine newspapers involved personal exchanges between the two leaders. The meeting came in a week where the federal opposition's defence spokesperson Angus Taylor called for Australia to take a stronger stance on any potential Chinese action taken against Taiwan. The prime minister said he would not break Mr Xi's trust by releasing the details of their conversation but said it related to of their personal histories. "It wasn't so much discussing the affairs of state that we did in our formal bilateral meeting as President of China and Prime Minister of Australia, it was more talking about personal issues, our history, our backgrounds," he told 7.30. "I learned a fair bit ... he I think is quite a private person and its important that you're able to have those conversations ... and I feel as though we got to know each other much more." Pressed as to whether the pair discussed Taiwan given that Mr Xi's father's final role in the Chinese Communist Party was to pursue the reunification of Taiwan, Mr Albanese said not. "We support the status quo when it comes to the Taiwan Straits." Mr Albanese said he had no reason not to trust his Chinese counterpart. "I have said before that anything that he has said to me has been fulfilled," the prime minister said. "There hasn't been any breaches of personal commitments that he has given to me. "That doesn't mean he's agreed with everything that I've put forward far from it, but I'd rather that than someone on an international level saying, 'yep, we can do all that' and then doing the opposite." While Mr Albanese has been criticised by the Coalition for not meeting with Donald Trump since the US president took office for his second term, the prime minister looked to dispel any concerns about the optics of spending days in China and personal time with Mr Xi. Those included whether Australia's Ambassador to the United States, Kevin Rudd, had to do any damage control on the government's behalf. It was a notion the PM rebuffed. "I would've thought that Australia engaging with our major trading partner is something that's very sensible. "I visited the United States five times since I've been prime minister, I've visited China twice. "China is our major trading partner. One in four of Australia's jobs, depends upon trade and China is larger. The export, our export trade with China is worth more than the next four countries combined." With parliament set to return, one major issue facing the government is the crisis in Australia's childcare sector. Recent ABC reports have revealed several issues within the sector and that came before alleged paedophile Joshua Dale Brown was charged with 70 offences relating to eight children between October 2021 and February 2024, including sexual assault and producing child abuse material. "We need to do better," Mr Albanese said of improving the childcare sector. "Which is why this week we'll be introducing important legislation, allowing the Commonwealth to use the power that we do have, which is essentially funding power, as well as using increased access to make sure that the Commonwealth can play a role there." Mr Albanese said he could understand the concerns of parents and that he was not focused on his own legacy, rather the safety of children. "Overwhelmingly, childcare centres are good in the way that they function and we shouldn't tar the whole sector with what has been serious issues," he said. "It would cause enormous distress and I understand that as a parent who's had a child in childcare. Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV
The Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Reform UK's Zia Yusuf blames team for ‘like' on anti-semitic post
Nigel Farage is facing calls to sack his right-hand man Zia Yusuf after the senior Reform UK figure said that a member of his team 'accidentally pressed like' on an antisemitic post which attacked the wife of Tory MP Robert Jenrick. The former Reform chair, who now heads the party's Doge unit, has apologised for the incident, which comes after an anonymous X user posted a video that appeared to show Mr Yusuf liking a tweet which said: 'Reminder that Jenrick is a traitorous Zogbot with a Jewish wife and family. I'm sure it's unrelated that he imported infinite brown savages to rape our women and children.' Zogbot is a derogatory term for a Zionist. The anonymous account that shared the screen recording of Mr Yusuf's interaction with the post described it as 'absolutely horrifying antisemitism '. Since last summer, likes on X have been privatised, so that only the liker and the poster can see them, rather than a wider audience. In response, Mr Jenrick said he 'called bull****' and pointed out that Mr Yusuf had been calling him a 'traitor' for the previous 48 hours over the Afghan data breach in what had become an ugly spat. The shadow justice minister claimed 'the mask has slipped' and urged Reform to sever ties with Mr Yusuf. Mr Yusuf responded with an apology after critics of the former Reform UK chair picked up the criticism to demand that he be sacked by Mr Farage. In his statement, he said: 'One of the team who post to my X account accidentally pressed like on an awful antisemitic tweet earlier today. I apologise for this.' He added: 'The post also refers to 'brown savages', and is equally racist against me. Clearly it was not intentional. 'The amount of antisemitism and racism on this platform is spiralling out of control, and I hope that changes soon.' But responding, Mr Jenrick claimed he did not believe Mr Yusuf's explanation. In a post directed at Mr Yusuf, he said: 'I call bull****. You've spent the last 48 hours calling me a 'traitor' for not drawing attention to a leaked spreadsheet with our special forces and MI6 officers' names on. 'But we're meant to believe this tweet attacking me as a traitor for having a Jewish wife and family was liked 'accidentally' by 'one of the team.' You must think we're all thick. 'No. The mask has slipped. Likes are private. You thought nobody would ever know. Unfortunately for you, the racist account who posted the tweet and could see the likes exposed you. Reform should give you the boot.' Mr Yusuf has been a controversial figure in Reform after he helped fund its general election campaign before being brought in as chair to modernise the party. He was blamed by supporters of Rupert Lowe for the Great Yarmouth MP being ousted from Reform but had the full backing of Mr Farage. Mr Yusuf then temporarily resigned from the party after having a spat with Reform's recently elected Runcorn MP Sarah Pochin, after she asked a question in PMQs calling for the burqa to be banned. He returned 24 hours later but was replaced as chair by long-term Farage ally Dr David Bull and instead agreed to head its Doge unit, modelled on the one Elon Musk created for Donald Trump, which aims to find savings and cut costs in councils Reform won control of in May.
