US VP Vance says he's not focused on 2028 election talk
"My view on the politics of 2028 is I'm not really focused even on the election in 2026, much less one two years after that," he told reporters during a meeting with British foreign minister David Lammy.
"And if we do a good job for the American people, the politics will take care of itself."
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Reuters
11 minutes ago
- Reuters
German aviation lobby warns of economic fallout as airlines withdraw over costs
BERLIN, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Airlines are withdrawing aircraft from Germany due to soaring state-imposed costs, the German Aviation Association (BDL) said on Monday, warning of significant economic fallout. The number of planes stationed in Germany has dropped from 190 in 2019 to 130 this year, resulting in an estimated loss of 10,000 jobs and 4 billion euros ($4.66 billion) in annual economic value added, BDL said. "Since 2019, state-imposed costs have more than doubled, and airlines are increasingly avoiding Germany," said BDL President Jens Bischof, urging the government to prioritise post-pandemic recovery in the aviation sector. The industry has criticised Berlin's decision to postpone a planned reduction in aviation tax, arguing that reversing the May 2024 hike would have signalled support for carriers. State levies, including taxes, air traffic control fees and security charges, are expected to rise by 1.1 billion to 4.4 billion euros this year, hampering recovery, said BDL. Passenger numbers rose just 3% in the first half of the year to 99.4 million, far below the 10% growth seen a year earlier. Germany ranks 28th out of 31 European countries in post-pandemic aviation recovery, with seat capacity at 87% of 2019 levels, compared with a European average of 104%. ($1 = 0.8583 euros)
The Independent
12 minutes ago
- The Independent
Palestine Action supporters ‘will feel full force of law', justice minister says
Supporters of the banned group Palestine Action will 'feel the full force of the law', a justice minister said, as police work to secure charges following hundreds of arrests at a demonstration in London over the weekend. The protest was held at Parliament Square on Saturday, organised by Defend Our Juries, with the Metropolitan Police warning it would detain anyone expressing support for Palestine Action. The force confirmed on Sunday that 522 people were held for displaying an item in support of a proscribed organisation, out of the total 532 arrests made during the policing operation. Over the coming weeks, officers from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command will work to put together case files and secure charges against those arrested, the force added. Victims minister Alex Davies-Jones told BBC Breakfast on Monday: 'I want to thank the police for their bravery and their courage in carrying out their diligent duties in the line of public protection, and I want to state that the right to peacefully protest in this country is a cornerstone of our democracy, and of course, we respect that. 'But with regards to Palestine Action, they are a proscribed terrorist organisation and their actions have not been peaceful. 'They have violently carried out criminal damage to RAF aircraft. 'We have credible reports of them targeting Jewish-owned businesses here in the United Kingdom, and there are other reasons, which we can't disclose because of national security. 'But they are a prescribed terrorist organisation and anyone showing support for that terrorist organisation will feel the full force of the law.' The Met said they were aware of online photos and footage suggesting some people returned to Parliament Square after being released on bail, adding it would be 'entirely unrealistic' for officers to recognise these individuals. One of the bail conditions was not to attend future demonstrations related to Palestine Action, police said. 'Given the numbers of people arrested (on Saturday) it would have been entirely unrealistic for officers to recognise individuals who returned to the area,' a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said. 'Their focus was rightly on those continuing to commit offences who were still to be arrested. 'We are as confident as we can be that none of those who returned to Parliament Square re-joined the protesters who were holding placards.' Securing a charge for an offence under the Terrorism Act will, in some instances, require approval by both the Crown Prosecution Service and Attorney General Lord Hermer, police said. The majority of those arrested, 348, were aged 50 or over, according to a breakdown published by the Met on Sunday. Detained protesters were taken to prisoner processing points in the Westminster area. Those whose details could be confirmed were released on bail to appear at a police station at a future date. There were a further 10 arrests, six for assaults on officers, two for breaching Public Order Act conditions, one arrest for obstructing a constable in the execution of their duty, and one for a racially aggravated public order offence, the force said. Last week, the Met confirmed the first three charges in England and Wales for offences against Section 13 of the Terrorism Act relating to Palestine Action. The three people charged were arrested at a protest in Parliament Square on July 5. 'A further 26 case files relating to arrests on the same day are due to be submitted to the CPS imminently, with more to follow in relation to later protests,' a spokesperson for the Met added.
The Independent
12 minutes ago
- The Independent
India's election body faces scrutiny as voter list anomalies prompt allegations of ‘vote theft'
India 's election commission is facing renewed scrutiny over discrepancies in voter lists and allegations of result tampering. The latest row began last week after opposition leader Rahul Gandhi claimed that almost 100,000 listed voters in Karnataka 's Mahadevapura constituency were fake. The voter lists were replete with duplicate names, wrong addresses and blurred photos, he said, calling this a 'theft' of the people's mandate. The election commission denied any wrongdoing. It, however, asked Mr Gandhi to submit a formal statement and provide evidence. DK Shivakumar, deputy chief minister of Karnataka from Mr Gandhi's Congress party, then filed a complaint to the poll body seeking a full audit of voters rolls. He also asked the commission to provide voter data in a format that would allow checking it for possible manipulation. Similar allegations were made in other states. In Uttar Pradesh, Congress chief Ajay Rai said that the ruling BJP had used fake voter entries and duplicate names to influence the 2024 parliamentary election in prime minister Narendra Modi's Varanasi constituency. In northern state of Haryana, Congress MP Deepender Hooda claimed the results had changed in the BJP's favour after several rounds of the opposition leading. These allegations mounted pressure on the election commission, which was already under scrutiny for controversially updating electoral rolls in Bihar ahead of the state election in November. The poll body removed 6.5 million names after Special Intensive Revision it said was aimed at eliminating dead, duplicate, or migrated voters. But Mr Gandhi seized on the exercise to accuse the commission of aiding the BJP in 'vote theft', echoing opposition claims that the rushed process disproportionately targeted minority Muslim voters, typically considered to support non-BJP parties. The commission claimed the Special Intensive Revision, a door-to-door verification drive conducted between 25 June and 26 July, had reached all 78.9 million registered voters in the eastern state. The exercise was the first extensive update since 2003 and was long overdue. The commission says similar verification exercises will soon be launched across the country, covering close to a billion voters. The preliminary rolls now list 72.4 million electors in Bihar, 6.5 million fewer than before. The commission claims to have removed 2.2 million to deceased voters, about 700,000 duplicate registrations and roughly 3.6 million people emigrants from the state. The commission insists the revision was necessary and impartial but refuses to publish the list of deletions. It has given voters until 1 September to seek corrections and, according to local media reports, more than 165,000 people have already submitted requests. In several Bihar villages, the BBC found voters complaining the newly drafted electoral rolls were riddled with glaring errors, from photos of strangers appearing next to their names to images of women replacing male family members. Some villagers discovered deceased relatives listed as active voters while others spotted the same person enrolled multiple times. The Bihar revision is now at the centre of a wider political storm in India, amplified by Mr Gandhi accusing the election commission of enabling large-scale voter suppression. Citing the deletions in Bihar and similar exercises in Karnataka, Mr Gandhi alleged the process was being manipulated to disenfranchise opposition-leaning communities, a charge the poll body strongly denied. Fellow opposition parties in the INDIA bloc, led by Mr Gandhi's Congress, echoed his charge, accusing the commission of working in the BJP's interest ahead of a high-stakes state election. The Congress launched a 'Vote Chori', meaning vote theft campaign, alleging electoral list manipulation in the 2024 parliamentary election, especially in the Bangalore Central constituency, and demanding greater transparency from the election commission. 'Vote chori is an attack on the foundational idea of 'one man, one vote'. A clean voter roll is imperative for free and fair elections. Our demand from the EC is clear - be transparent and release digital voter rolls so that people and parties can audit them,' Mr Gandhi said. The opposition leader alleged that over 100,000 fake votes in Bengaluru's Mahadevapura helped the BJP win the seat in last year's parliamentary election. The BJP won the seat by 32,707 votes. His party alleged similar voter roll anomalies in Bihar, including hundreds registered at single addresses. Mr Gandhi called this a 'huge criminal fraud', accusing the BJP and the election commission of collusion. The commission rejected Mr Gandhi's allegations on X as 'false and misleading'. The poll body claimed that it was not sharing electoral rolls in machine-readable formats to safeguard privacy and comply with legal precedents. The BJP dismissed the opposition campaign as pure theatre, with spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia saying the Congress party should pursue election petitions rather than float unsubstantiated accusations.
