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Nancy Pelosi to Stands Down as Speaker of the House

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Nancy Pelosi to Stands Down as Speaker of the House

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has led Democrats in the US House of Representatives for nearly two decades, has announced her resignation. The 82-year-old is the most powerful Democrat in Congress and the House’s first female speaker.

She will continue to represent her California district in the House of Representatives. Her resignation comes as Republicans are expected to retake control of the House in the aftermath of the midterm elections.

Republican Kevin McCarthy has won his party’s nomination to be the new House Speaker, and he is expected to succeed Nancy Pelosi.

“I never imagined that one day I would go from homemaker to House Speaker,” Nancy Pelosi said in a statement in the chamber on Thursday.

“I will not run for Democratic leadership in the next Congress. The time has come for a new generation of Democrats to lead the Democratic caucus, “She stated.

Nancy Pelosi Started in 1987

Mrs. Pelosi will serve as speaker until January, when a new Congress takes office and will remain in the position she first held in 1987 until January 2025.

Hakeem Jeffries, a congressman from New York, is widely expected to take over as House Democratic leader, making him the first black congressional leader in US history.

The only congressional job specified in the US Constitution is that of Speaker of the House. It is the second in line to the presidency after the vice president.

The speaker, deputies, and committee chairs determine what bills are considered and voted on. They set the agenda and establish the ground rules for debate.

Mrs. Pelosi was elected minority leader, the title held by the person who leads the House opposition, in 2003. In 2006, the Democrats took control of the House for the first time in more than a decade, and she became the first woman to lead a major political party in either chamber of Congress.

Mrs. Pelosi became minority leader again four years later but was re-elected speaker in 2019.
Nancy Pelosi will be remembered as one of the most effective US congressional leaders in history, both as a valuable asset to Democrats and a formidable opponent to Republicans.

Press Conferences and Speeches Uninspiring

Her legislative savvy, impeccable sense of legislative timing, and instinct for political theatre have made her a force on Capitol Hill and a lightning rod for criticism.

Her press conferences and speeches were uninspiring. Her ability to keep her fractious and frequently slim majority in the chamber together on key votes, on the other hand, had few rivals.

Her strength, however, has come at a cost. She became a righteous hobgoblin in part because of these abilities.

Her two-decade-long stranglehold on House Democrats has also stifled the development of younger leaders within the chamber. They may finally get their chance now. They will, however, have big shoes to fill.

Mrs. Pelosi’s role as speaker was critical in advancing – or thwarting – the agendas of multiple presidents.

She is widely credited with shepherding former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare legislation and bills addressing infrastructure and climate change under President Joe Biden.

Nancy Pelosi Hated Trump

Throughout his presidency, Mrs. Pelosi has directly challenged Donald Trump, famously ripping up a copy of his State of the Union address behind his back.

Rumours about her future circulated following a violent break-in at her home last month, which left her husband Paul, 82, in need of skull surgery.

On Thursday, lawmakers applauded her as she thanked them for their prayers and spoke of her “beloved partner in life and my pillar of support.”

According to the Washington Post, she later stated that she has been dealing with “survivor’s guilt” since the attack because her husband was injured “because they were looking for me.”

Former Pelosi chief of staff John Lawrence told the BBC that he expected her to play an important role in counselling new members of Congress and working with the White House now that Democrats were back in the minority.

“There’s never a good time to leave,” he explained. “When you’re on top, you want to accomplish a lot, and when things aren’t going your way, you want to fight back.”

President Biden called Pelosi “the most consequential speaker of the House of Representatives in our history” in a statement on Thursday.

Source: BBC, VOR News

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For The Past Year, Global Ocean Temperatures Has Set New Records On A Daily Basis.

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According to new data, the world’s oceans have now been subjected to an unprecedented year of heat, with new temperature records being smashed every day.

Global water surface temperatures began breaking daily records in mid-March last year, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, raising fears about marine life and extreme weather worldwide.

ocean

For The Past Year, Global Ocean Temperatures Has Set New Records On A Daily Basis.

“The amplitude by which previous sea surface temperature records were beaten in 2023, and now again in 2024, is remarkable,” said Joel Hirschi, associate head of marine systems modelling at the National Oceanography Centre in the United Kingdom.

Gregory C. Johnson, a NOAA oceanographer, reported that the global average ocean temperature in 2023 was 0.25 degrees Celsius higher than the previous year. That increase “is equivalent to about two decades’ worth of warming in a single year,” he told CNN. “So it is quite large, quite significant, and a bit surprising.”

According to scientists, human-caused global warming, along with El Niño, a natural climate trend characterized by higher-than-average water temperatures, is accelerating  heat.

The biggest repercussions are for marine life and global weather. As the global waterwarms, hurricanes and other extreme weather phenomena, such as blistering heat waves and heavy rains, may gain more force.

High temperatures are already wreaking havoc on coral. In March, based on aerial observations, authorities declared that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is witnessing its seventh mass bleaching episode.

Bleaching happens when heat-stressed corals release the algae that dwell in their tissue and serve as a food supply. If water temperatures continue too high for too long, corals will starve and die.

ocean

For The Past Year, Global Ocean Temperatures Has Set New Records On A Daily Basis.

Data from NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch program suggest that the crisis extends far beyond Australia, with the world potentially facing a fourth worldwide mass coral bleaching event in the coming months.

Ocean heat creates the conditions for more powerful hurricanes. “The warmer the ocean, the more energy to fuel storms is available,” said Karina von Schuckmann, an oceanographer at Mercator Ocean International in France.

Temperatures in the North Atlantic, an water area important for storm generation, have been unusual, startling some scientists who are still investigating the specific causes.

“At times, the records (in the North Atlantic) have been broken by margins that are virtually statistically impossible,” Brian McNoldy, a senior research associate at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School, said to CNN.

If water temperatures remain high in the second half of 2024 and a La Niña event intensifies the Atlantic hurricane season, “this would increase the risk of a very active hurricane season,” Hirschi explained.

The oceans contain around 90% of the world’s excess heat generated by burning planet-heating fossil fuels. “Measuring water warming allows us to track the status and evolution of planetary warming,” Schuckmann stated in an interview with CNN. “The ocean is the sentinel for global warming.”

El Niño is expected to weaken and fade in the coming months, perhaps reducing record water temperatures if La Niña replaces it.

ocean

For The Past Year, Global Ocean Temperatures Has Set New Records On A Daily Basis.

“In the past, surface temperature values have decreased after the passage of El Niño,” Schuckmann said. However, she cautioned that it is now hard to forecast when water temperatures will fall below record levels.

While natural climatic variability will cause water temperatures to vary, NOAA’s Johnson predicts that in the long run, they will “continue to break records as long as greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere rise.”

SOURCE – (CNN)

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Reactions As Vladimir Putin Secures A Fifth Term As Russia’s President After Tightly Controlled Vote

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putin charged with war crimes

Vladimir Putin won a historic fifth term as Russia’s president on Monday, as the electoral commission announced the results of a referendum in which he faced no serious challenges and took place amid the toughest crackdown on dissent and free speech since Soviet times.

putin

Reactions As Vladimir Putin Secures A Fifth Term As Russia’s President After Tightly Controlled Vote

Putin claimed that the landslide majority demonstrated Russians’ “trust” and “hopes” in him, while lawmakers throughout Europe blasted the vote as a hoax and Russia’s efforts to conduct elections in seized portions of Ukraine that it claims as its territory.

Here’s what Putin, European leaders, and others say:

“Of course, we have a lot of work ahead. But I’d like to clarify one thing: no one has ever been able to intimidate or stifle our will or self-conscience since our consolidation. They have failed in the past and will fail in the future. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia.

“The elections took place in an ever-shrinking political space, which has resulted in an alarming increase of violations of civil and political rights, and precluded many candidates from running, including all those opposed to Russia’s illegal war of aggression.” – Statement from the European Union.

“These Russian elections highlight the intensity of repression under President Putin’s administration, which tries to stifle all dissent to his illegal war. Putin eliminates his political opponents, controls the media, and declares himself the winner. “This is not a democracy.” — David Cameron, UK Foreign Secretary.

putin

Reactions As Vladimir Putin Secures A Fifth Term As Russia’s President After Tightly Controlled Vote

“Searches at voting stations’ entrances, attempts to examine ballots before voters place them in ballot boxes, and detentions of voters who arrived at noon. According to reports, at one voting location in Moscow, police asked that the chairman of a commission (of poll workers) unlock a ballot box and hand them a ballot with anything inscribed on it. This is the first time in my life that I have witnessed such ridiculousness.” — Stanislav Andreychuk, co-chair of Golos, the independent election watchdog, on Telegram.

putin

Reactions As Vladimir Putin Secures A Fifth Term As Russia’s President After Tightly Controlled Vote

“The Russian election was one without a choice. Holding so-called elections in portions of Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia violates international law. It is all the more amazing that so many Russians made it known over the weekend that they do not agree with this Russian president. That you go to a polling station even if you’re surrounded by military earns me the highest respect.” — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

SOURCE – (AP)

 

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India Announces 6-Week General Elections Starting April 19 With Modi’s BJP Topping Surveys

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india

NEW DELHI – India declared on Saturday that its six-week general election will begin on April 19, with most polls projecting a victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

Voting in the world’s largest democracy will occur in seven phases, with different states voting at different times, and the results will be published on June 4. Over 970 million people, or more than 10% of the world’s population, will elect 543 members of the lower house of Parliament for five-year terms.

india

India Announces 6-Week General Elections Starting April 19 With Modi’s BJP Topping Surveys

Modi, who is running for a third term, has little opposition since the main opposition alliance, led by the Indian National Congress, appears to be fraying due to rivalries, political defections, and ideological disagreements.

According to analysts, the elections will likely confirm Modi’s status as one of India’s most enduring and influential leaders, having pushed to turn the country from a secular democracy to an avowedly Hindu nation.

Each election phase will span one day, with votes cast in many constituencies distributed across multiple states, strongly populated cities, and remote villages. The staggered polling method enables the government to deploy tens of thousands of troops to avoid riots and transport electoral workers and voting machines.

India uses a first-past-the-post multiparty electoral system, meaning the candidate with the most votes wins.

india

India Announces 6-Week General Elections Starting April 19 With Modi’s BJP Topping Surveys

Ahead of the election, Modi has been touring the country, inaugurating new projects, giving speeches, and connecting with people. Support for the leader skyrocketed after he opened a Hindu temple in northern Ayodhya in January, which many considered the unofficial start of his election campaign because it fulfilled his party’s long-standing Hindu nationalist commitment.

The 73-year-old Modi first rose to power in 2014 on promises of economic progress, portraying himself as an outsider cracking down on the political class. Since then, he has grown in popularity and combined religion and politics in a combination that has resonated strongly with the country’s majority Hindu population, even if it weakens India’s secular roots.

The elections come as India’s global power has grown under Modi, owing to its vast economy and, in part, to its position as a counterweight to a rising China.

india

India Announces 6-Week General Elections Starting April 19 With Modi’s BJP Topping Surveys

Critics claim that over a decade of Modi’s administration has seen increased unemployment even as the country’s economy has expanded, attacks by Hindu nationalists on the country’s minorities, particularly Muslims, and a narrowing space for dissent and free press. The opposition claims that a victory for Modi’s party could jeopardize India’s status as a secular, democratic country.

A victory for Modi’s BJP would build on its 2019 electoral triumph when it won an absolute majority with 303 parliamentary seats to the Congress party’s 52.

SOURce – (AP)

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