The visit comes ahead of India’s national election due by May, the first since the region lost its autonomy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will shortly hold a rally in the main city of Indian-administrated Kashmir, his first visit since the disputed region’s semi-autonomy was scrapped in 2019.
Modi’s government stripped the Muslim-majority territory of its special constitutional status, splitting the former state into two territories – Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir – directly ruled from New Delhi. Inherited protections on land and jobs given to the Indigenous residents were also removed.
The move, widely welcomed across India, angered many in the densely militarised territory. Rebels in the Himalayan region have waged a rebellion since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan, which controls a smaller part of the Kashmir region and, like India, claims it in full.
On Thursday, thousands of armed police and paramilitary forces in flak jackets were deployed, and new checkpoints were set up across Indian-administered Kashmir’s main city Srinagar, where the Hindu nationalist leader is scheduled to address a public gathering at about 2pm (08:30 GMT) local time.
The forces laid razor wire and erected checkpoints as they patrolled all the roads leading to the football stadium where Modi will speak. They randomly frisked residents and searched vehicles while navy commandos in motorboats patrolled the Jhelum river that snakes through the city.
Government employees are being herded at five am in sub zero temperatures into vehicles at Budgam bus stand ferrying them to the PM’s rally. Disheartening to see employees being forcibly mobilised to paint a pretty picture that all is well post 2019 & that people here are… pic.twitter.com/NJePtET2P9
“Various development works will also be dedicated to the nation,” Modi said in a statement on social media platform X ahead of the visit, including programmes “boosting the agro-economy” as well as tourism.
A government statement said Modi will also inaugurate infrastructure around the revered Muslim shrine of Hazratbal.
Thursday’s event is seen as part of Modi’s campaign ahead of national election scheduled in April and May, the first since the region lost its autonomy. The last election for the region’s legislative assembly was held in 2014.
Modi’s government claims New Delhi’s direct rule of Kashmir brought about a new era of “peace and development” in the region, but critics and many residents say it heralded a drastic curtailment of civil liberties and press freedom.
Most schools in the city are shut for the day, and the authorities have called on government employees to attend the rally.
Omar Abdullah, a former chief minister of Indian-administered Kashmir, accused the government of organising buses to bring in crowds to attend the rally, alleging that “almost none” would be attending willingly.
“Government employees are being herded at five am in sub-zero temperatures into vehicles … ferrying them to the PM’s rally,” Mehbooba Mufti, another former chief minister of the region, posted on X.
Islamabad, Pakistan — It is the latest setback for former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
On Monday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) declared that the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) could not claim allocated reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies.
PTI, unable to contest recent elections due to a ban on their electoral symbol, instructed its candidates to join the right-wing fringe religious party in order to extend their numerical strength in the National Assembly.
In its 22-page judgment issued on Monday, the five-member electoral body decided 4-1 that the SIC failed to submit a party list for reserved candidates before the ECP’s deadline of February 22, two weeks after the February 8 election.
Pakistan’s National Assembly has a total of 70 reserved seats which are distributed among parties based upon their performance in the general elections. Similarly, the four provincial assemblies have a combined total of 149 reserved seats that are similarly distributed.
A majority of these reserved seats have already been allocated — around 77 remain vacant, for now.
PTI has criticised the ECP judgement, calling it an attack on democracy.
“This is the last assault on the heart of democracy,” Senator Ali Zafar of PTI, and a senior party lawyer said during a speech in the Senate, the upper house of the assembly on Monday after the decision was announced.
The ECP’s decision opens the door for a prolonged legal battle, as PTI has announced it will challenge the decision in higher courts.
However, if the party fails to overturn it, it could further dent its position in the lower house of parliament, potentially allowing the ruling coalition to gain a two-thirds majority in the 336-member National Assembly.
What are reserved seats — and why do they matter?
Pakistan’s general elections for the National Assembly take place on 266 seats. But there are an additional 70 reserved seats (60 for women and 10 for minorities) which give the body a total size of 336 seats.
To achieve a simple majority to form a government, a total of 169 seats is required. However, a two-thirds majority — or 224 votes — is necessary to make any constitutional amendments.
Reserved seats are allocated only to political parties that win seats in the National Assembly, and the distribution is done based on their proportional representation after the general elections. Similarly, reserved seats are allocated in provincial assemblies based on the parties’ proportionate performances.
According to regulations, any political party contesting the polls must submit a list of their nominations for reserved seats prior to elections, as per the schedule given by the ECP. However, after the polls, if a party has over-performed and needs to submit additional names for reserved candidates, it has two weeks to do so.
Independents have three days after their win announcement to declare their affiliation with a party in the assembly.
The party they join gets a boost in the number of reserved seats it gets, commensurate with the number of independents that join it.
In the National Assembly, the ECP has already allocated at least 40 out of 60 seats to different political parties for their reserved quota for women. Similarly, seven out of 10 seats reserved for the minorities quota have already been allocated in the lower house of the parliament. The rest are currently vacant.
What happened in the current elections?
Forced to contest the recent general elections on February 8 without its party symbol – the cricket bat – due to violating election rules, PTI fielded candidates as independents.
Despite facing a nationwide crackdown for nearly two years, with its leader, former Prime Minister Imran Khan, imprisoned since August last year, and its candidates unable to campaign freely, PTI still emerged as the single largest bloc, with its candidates winning 93 seats.
While the party claimed widespread rigging across the country and alleged a “stolen mandate”, its rivals, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), managed to cobble together a ruling alliance, with 75 and 54 seats respectively, in coalition with other smaller parties.
Even though they won the most seats, the PTI leadership, under orders from Imran Khan, decided not to form a government with any of the major parties and instead joined hands with a fringe, right-wing religious party, the SIC, to claim reserved seats.
Complicating matters further was the fact that the SIC, despite being a registered political party, did not contest the general elections. Its leader, Sahibzada Hamid Raza, chose to contest independently, winning his seat from Faisalabad city in Punjab province.
What does the ECP verdict say?
In its verdict, the ECP stated that the SIC was not entitled to claim the quota for reserved seats due to a “violation of a mandatory provision of submitting a party list for reserved seats, which is a legal requirement”.
It also said that the currently vacant seats in the national assembly — 23 — “will not” remain vacant and will be distributed among other parties based on the elected seats they won.
The commission criticised the SIC by reminding them that they were given a specific timeframe to submit a list of nominations, which the party did not.
“Every political party, while making any decision regarding crucial steps concerning matters of the political party required under law, should be aware of the potential consequences they may face in the future,” the ECP wrote.
What are the consequences of the ECP decision?
On March 3, Shehbaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) was elected the country’s new prime minister by the National Assembly, securing 201 votes. Omar Ayub Khan, the PTI leader backed by the SIC, managed to secure 92 votes.
The biggest beneficiary of the ECP decision will be Sharif’s PMLN, along with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which won the most number of seats in the general elections, with 75, 54 and 17 respectively.
In case PTI’s legal challenge fails to bring them any relief, it is a certainty that the ruling coalition will cross the magic figure of 224, which is required to achieve a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly.
However, if PTI manages to get the ECP decision reversed, it can expect to get 23 further seats in the National Assembly, in addition to extra seats in other provincial assemblies where they have done well. That might limit the governing coalition to just below the two-thirds mark.
What does the legal fraternity think, and what’s next?
The ECP decision has been widely criticised by lawyers, with many calling the order a “farce” or even “unconstitutional”.
Constitutional expert Asad Rahim says the ECP verdict aligns with its previous decisions that, he alleged, have disenfranchised the people of Pakistan.
“There are precedents expressly barring the minor technicalities on the basis of which the ECP barred the largest party,” the Lahore-based lawyer told Al Jazeera. “However, an even greater subversion of the democratic mandate is its division of the remaining seats among the smaller parties.”
Another legal expert, Rida Hosain, also questioned the decision to distribute the unallocated seats to other, smaller parties. She argued that no legal or constitutional provision permitted this “absurd” distribution.
“The entire framework of the Constitution and law dictates that a political party should receive reserved seats through a system of proportional representation. It is entirely undemocratic for other political parties to get a share of reserved seats beyond their proportional strength of general seats in the National Assembly,” Hosain told Al Jazeera.
Islamabad-based lawyer Salaar Khan also noted that the ECP decision lacks any “convincing justification” for allocating the unallocated seats to other parties.
“However, the impact may well be granting the coalition government a full two-thirds majority in the National Assembly,” he told Al Jazeera.
On the other hand, lawyer Mian Dawood argued that the SIC was clearly at fault for failing to submit their list within the deadline.
“This is the first instance where a political party like the SIC has not submitted its list for reserved seats as required by law, yet now demands them on grounds of morality and the law of necessity,” Dawood told Al Jazeera.
Abdul Moiz Jaferii, a constitutional expert and lawyer, viewed the ECP verdict as another “technical knockout” suffered by PTI.
“The PTI perhaps themselves opened the door to this by not standing their ground with the ECP regarding their own reserved seat lists and maintaining that they are still a political party, albeit without a symbol,” he told Al Jazeera.
Lawyers also expressed pessimism regarding PTI receiving any favourable verdict from the superior courts.
“The PTI seems to have decided to challenge the decision before the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court’s narrow interpretation of election laws is, of course, what landed the PTI here to begin with,” lawyer Khan said, referring to the Supreme Court verdict in January this year upholding the ECP decision to strip the party of its cricket bat symbol.
Speaking at a rare press conference in Beijing, Wang Yi calls for peace talks to bring two-year-old Ukraine conflict to an end.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said China sees itself as a “force for peace” in the world, even as it pursues deeper ties with Russia despite Moscow’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.
“In the face of complex turmoil in the international environment, China will persist in being a force for peace, a force for stability, and a force for progress in the world,” Wang told reporters at a press conference in Beijing on the sidelines of the country’s annual meeting of its parliament.
Wang, who spoke in Mandarin, was also asked about China’s relationship with Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The two countries announced a “no limits” partnership shortly before the invasion, as Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing, and visiting Moscow last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed a “new era” of cooperation.
The foreign minister said Beijing and Moscow’s closer relationship was a “strategic choice”, noting that bilateral trade had reached a record $240bn in 2023.
“New opportunities” lay ahead, he added, portraying the two countries’ ties as a “new paradigm” in the relations between big powers.
“Major countries should not seek conflict and the Cold War should not be allowed to come back,” Wang said.
China has positioned itself as a neutral party in the Ukraine war, and on the first anniversary of the conflict, released a 12-point peace plan calling for a ceasefire and talks between the two parties.
On Thursday, Wang insisted that Beijing maintained an “objective and impartial position” on Ukraine and called again for peace talks, noting that peace envoy Li Hui was currently in the region.
“A conflict, when prolonged, tends to deteriorate and escalate and could lead to an even bigger crisis,” Wang said.
Latest comments come as US and South Korea hold joint military exercises involving thousands of troops.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered heightened readiness for war after inspecting troops at a major military operations base in the country’s west.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) did not reveal the location of the base in its report on Thursday.
The North Korean leader said the military must “dynamically usher in a new heyday of intensifying the war preparations in line with the requirements of the prevailing situation”, according to KCNA.
“Our army should … steadily intensify the actual war drills aimed at rapidly improving its combat capabilities for perfect war preparedness,” he added.
Kim’s visit took place as forces from the United States and South Korea continued their annual Freedom Shield large-scale military exercises.
The drills, expected to involve 48 field exercises including missile interception drills, bombing, air assault and live-firing, began on Monday with twice the number of troops participating compared with last year.
KCNA did not say whether Kim discussed the US-South Korean drills with the troops he met with [KCNA via Reuters]
North Korea has long condemned military drills by the US and South Korea, claiming they are rehearsals for an invasion, and has conducted weapons tests in response to previous exercises.
On Monday, KCNA quoted an unnamed spokesperson for North Korea’s Ministry of Defence urging Seoul and Washington to cease their “reckless” and “frantic war drills”.
The US and South Korea “will be made to pay a dear price for their false choice”, the spokesperson added.
In Thursday’s report, KCNA did not mention whether Kim directly referred to the Freedom Shield drills.
It said the troops at the base were conducting manoeuvres under conditions simulating actual war.
North Korea has continued to carry out missile tests this year as it modernises its military.
Gelang Patah, Malaysia – On an overcast morning six years ago, Mohammad Ridhwan Mohd Yazid was on his way back to Malaysia’s southern Johor coast when his small fishing boat was caught in a sudden storm.
In a matter of minutes, the calm southerly March winds transformed into gales whipping up high seas that slammed into his boat, knocking both him and the day’s catch into the air.
Alone and about a kilometre (about half a mile) from Singapore’s northwestern shore, Ridhwan landed back on the boat near its engine and turned quickly for land.
“I didn’t care that I lost half of what I caught that day. I just wanted to go home,” the 30-year-old told Al Jazeera in an interview at the coastal jetty in Pendas, a fishing village in Malaysia’s southern state of Johor.
Ridhwan’s tale is not an isolated one, but shared by many traditional Malaysian fishermen who have found themselves increasingly affected by the climate crisis, which is changing weather patterns that have long governed when and where they can fish.
Such fishermen are estimated to make up about 65 percent of Malaysia’s total fishing community, and are small-scale operators from seaside or river communities and ply waters close to shore or along the river for fish, clams, crabs and other marine animals to meet local demand.
They typically use single-engine boats about seven metres (23 feet) long, casting their nets in an area up to five nautical miles from the shore along the country’s more than 4,600km (2,858 miles) of coastline.
Malaysian fisherman Mohd Faizan Wahid, 43, checking his equipment after casting his net into the waters of the Johor Strait between Malaysia and Singapore [Patrick Lee/Al Jazeera]
But erratic weather, warming seas and declining fish stocks caused by climate change are slowly pushing them away from the seas they and generations before them once depended on.
“In the past, we didn’t have to go far to get a good catch. We could just go near the shore,” said Mohd Hafiza Abu Talib.
Now, he said, winds could shift direction without warning, treacherous for those who usually work alone or fish at night.
“The winds can suddenly change and bring us somewhere else. It’s even worse when we fish in the dark, and we don’t have GPS,” the man in his late 40s added.
Warming waters
Studies by the United Nations have shown that oceans absorb 25 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions and capture 90 percent of the heat generated by these emissions trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed a daily sea surface temperature of 21 degrees Celsius (69.8 Fahrenheit) from early January, one degree more than during the same period 30 years ago.
Man-made emissions have pushed the average temperature of oceans higher, leading to the melting of polar ice, rising sea levels, ocean acidification, marine heatwaves and more fiercely unpredictable weather.
Mangroves have also been damaged, and coral reefs, where fish breed, have bleached.
The small-time fishermen’s catch is sold at a market next to the jetty where they dock their boats in Pendas [Patrick Lee/Al Jazeera]
Professor Mohd Fadzil Mohd Akhir, an oceanographer with Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, said marine animals, sensitive to sea temperatures, had been found to migrate to cooler waters as oceans warmed.
“It doesn’t mean that when the climate gets warmer, that fish is not available anywhere,” he said.
“Most marine organisms in tropical areas will move to cooler areas when these areas get warmer.”
A 2022 University of British Columbia study found that climate change would force 45 percent of fish that cross through two or more exclusive economic zones to move away from their natural habitats by the end of the century.
An exclusive economic zone (EEZ) refers to an area of ocean or sea that extends some 200 nautical miles beyond a country’s territorial waters.
The prospect of a further decline in an already falling harvest is a huge blow for Malaysia’s coastal fishermen who have invested thousands in a back-breaking trade with often poor returns.
A single boat can cost about 14,000 Malaysian ringgit ($2,928) with thousands more needed for nets, engines and fuel.
A Pendas fisherman can potentially net upwards of about 300 ringgit ($62) of fish or crabs from the sea on a good day, and more during certain seasons. However, fishermen who have fished here for decades complain that there are fewer good days than before.
“I used to be able to get 30 to 40kg [66 to 88lbs] of crabs in a day,” said Shafiee Rahmat, 63, who has been fishing for 50 years.
“Now I get about 10kg [22lbs] in a day. It’s just not worth it.”
‘Dramatic collapse’
Originally, fishermen in the area blamed the dwindling supply on coastal and industrial developments.
Chief among the complaints was the construction of the artificial islands making up the 2,833-hectare (7,000 acres) China-backed Forest City property project, some 20km (12 miles) from Pendas.
But Serina Rahman, a conservation scientist working with fishermen in the area for more than 15 years, also noticed a “dramatic collapse” as the world shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We always thought it was development that was affecting the fish catch,” the lecturer from the National University of Singapore said.
Fishermen relax before heading out to sea in southern Johor [Patrick Lee/Al Jazeera]
However, Serina and the fishermen noticed that fish stocks did not climb back as hoped, even as coastal development, previously blamed for declining catches, came to a halt during the lockdowns.
She said that while dredging in the past had been shown to increase the catch of certain species, such as prawns, climate change had no such benefits.
“That was when we really saw the fall in catch, because over the COVID period was when we saw the numbers totally decline,” Serina said.
Spurred by the diminishing supply and extreme weather, some fishermen from Pendas have banded together with help from a local environmental group to build an offshore fishing platform to earn more money.
Colloquially referred to as “kelong” or “rafts”, the floating wooden structures serve as controlled aquaculture breeding grounds and spots for visiting anglers.
Potentially, each platform can net up to 100,000 ringgit ($20,920) a year in fish; a lot less risky than going out to sea.
Ridhwan said that there were “many” now skirting the Johor coast, compared with only three or four a decade ago.
Fed up with the unrewarding waters, he has taken several breaks from the trade over the past 10 years, working odd jobs including as a delivery courier during the pandemic.
He finally called it quits two years ago and sold his boat. Today, Ridhwan does diving work as well as sometimes maintaining the Pendas fishermen’s platform and feeding the fish they farm.
“Everyone here wants to be a fisherman,” he said. “But if it’s not good for us, what’s the point? We have to change with the times.”
She raised concerns about his age. His mental state. His capacity for leadership when faced with 91 criminal charges.
And yet, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley could not overcome former President Donald Trump in the race for the United States presidency. On Wednesday, she announced she was suspending her campaign, clearing the way for Trump to receive the Republican Party nomination.
Analysts, however, say her long-shot bid reflects how ironclad Trump’s hold over the party has become. Nevertheless, her campaign gave voice to the anxieties some Republicans harbour.
“There is some angst in elite Republican circles that Trump comes with a lot of baggage and that they could do better with someone else,” Osita Nwanevu, a writer on US politics, told Al Jazeera. “Haley was the candidate who embodied that concern, that sticking with Trump could hurt the party.”
But that message failed to resonate beyond pockets of moderate voters. Haley announced her campaign’s suspension in the aftermath of the Super Tuesday primary votes. With 15 states up for grabs, she only managed to secure one: left-leaning Vermont.
Haley ultimately finished the race on Wednesday with just 89 party delegates to Trump’s 995. Delegates ultimately decide who receives the party nomination.
“In all likelihood, Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee when our party convention meets in July. I congratulate him and wish him well,” Haley said in her announcement on Wednesday.
However, Haley stopped short of endorsing Trump, instead calling on him to win over voters who may have doubts about his candidacy.
“It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond who did not support him,” she said.
Last woman standing
A former governor of South Carolina, Haley outlasted all other major Republican opponents, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, to face Trump one-on-one in the primaries.
But even her exit speech reflected the difficult balancing act she was forced to walk. Experts say she tried to appeal to moderates without alienating party voters for whom loyalty to Trump has become an article of faith.
Throughout the race, Trump pilloried Haley — a former member of his administration — as a “birdbrain” and a “Republican in name only”, or RINO. He celebrated her Super Tuesday losses with a post on social media, revisiting a frequent accusation that she represented Democratic interests.
“Nikki Haley got TROUNCED last night, in record setting fashion, despite the fact that Democrats, for reasons unknown, are allowed to vote in Vermont, and various other Republican Primaries,” Trump wrote. “Much of her money came from Radical Left Democrats.”
Experts have observed that Trump’s rhetoric towards Haley has been echoed among his base of supporters, who have questioned her political credentials — and even her citizenship as an American of Indian heritage.
Trump, for example, raised doubts about whether she was even born in the United States, a conspiracy theory he also pushed during the presidency of Democrat Barack Obama.
“The level of negativity towards her from Trump and his supporters is usually reserved for members of opposing political parties,” Thad Kousser, a professor of political science at the University of California at San Diego, told Al Jazeera. “Her challenge to Trump was met with real vitriol.”
Conservative bona fides
But while Haley has been able to project herself as a moderate alternative to Trump, she has consistently staked out right-wing positions on issues such as immigration, abortion and foreign policy.
During a Republican primary debate earlier this year, Haley leaned into far-right talking points. “You have to deport them,” she said at one point of the roughly 10 million undocumented immigrants in the US.
She has also pushed to raise the country’s retirement age and called Democratic legislation addressing climate change a “communist manifesto”.
Her unconditional support for Israel — even amid its deadly campaign in Gaza — has also been a hallmark of her campaign. In a recent interview, she said that displaced Palestinians in Gaza should be resettled in Arab countries.
Still, she did stake out positions that put her at odds with some members of her party, particularly Trump.
Her firm support for Ukraine, for example, drew ire from the party’s right flank, and she has criticised Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the US Capitol to overturn the 2020 election results.
“I think he should have stopped it when it started,” she told NBC’s Meet the Press.
But Haley acknowledged the political costs of making those kinds of criticisms. Speaking to reporters in 2015, she addressed the backlash she and others faced from Trump.
“Every time someone criticises him, he goes and makes a political attack back,” Haley said. “That’s not who we are as Republicans. That’s not what we do.”
What happens to Haley voters?
With Haley now out of the presidential race, President Joe Biden, the Democratic incumbent, has already made a play for the moderate voters who backed her campaign.
In a statement on Wednesday, Biden praised Haley for being willing to “speak the truth about Donald Trump”. He also courted her supporters, saying there is “a place for them in my campaign”.
A recent Quinnipiac poll found that, of the Republicans who voted for Haley, only 37 percent said they would cast their ballot for Biden if she dropped out. Nearly half, however, pledged to back Trump.
Nwanevu, the political writer, said that reflected Trump’s steadfast dominance in the Republican field. Since emerging as an outsider candidate in 2016 with no political experience, Trump has exerted increasing dominance over the Republican Party — and voters have rallied behind him.
“Trump is tremendously popular among Republican voters, more so than when he ran in 2016 when he won most primaries without a majority of the vote,” Nwanevu told Al Jazeera.
Recent poll numbers have also buoyed Trump’s campaign. A March poll from the New York Times and Siena College showed that Trump had a lead over Biden of 48 percent to 43 percent. Biden’s popularity, meanwhile, has slumped to record lows.
Those numbers have proven unifying for Republicans. Kousser, the political science professor, told Al Jazeera that Biden’s low approval ratings would reassure some Republican voters that the former president has the capacity to win, even with his abrasive public persona and legal baggage.
“They don’t feel that they have to choose between the candidate closest to their heart and someone who can win in November,” he said.
I end my campaign with the same words I began it from the Book of Joshua. I direct them to all Americans, but especially to so many of the women and girls out there who put their faith in our campaign.
Republican officials have likewise lined up behind Trump’s candidacy.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, for instance, has previously slammed Trump over his actions on January 6. But on Wednesday, McConnell again offered his support to Trump despite their stormy personal relationship.
“It should come as no surprise that, as nominee, he will have my support,” McConnell said.
Nwanevu, the writer, said that even establishment Republicans who have qualms with Trump have come to see him as a vessel to advance traditional conservative priorities.
“The Republican establishment has largely brought Trump on board with their main policy goals. During his first term, you didn’t see the big realignment on trade he promised. He cut taxes, pushed deregulation and appointed conservative justices to the Supreme Court,” he explained.
“There are still some in the party who feel they could be accomplishing more on the policy front without Trump looming over them, but those forces in the party have largely resigned themselves and realised they aren’t able to displace him.”
In her exit speech, Haley again took on the cadence of a moderate, a signal that she may still believe that there is a future for her in the party, should Trump lose again in 2024.
“At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away,” Haley said in her remarks on Wednesday. “And our conservative cause badly needs more people.”
Washington, DC – Benny Gantz, an Israeli minister without a portfolio, was granted an audience with officials at the highest level of the United States government in Washington, DC, this week: the vice president, secretary of state and Pentagon chief.
The US officials expressed support for Israel amid its war on the Gaza Strip, urged more aid to the besieged territory and reiterated their call for a pause in the fighting, according to government statements.
But analysts say the real message was in having the meetings at all: The administration of President Joe Biden was signalling frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by hosting a figure seen as Netanyahu’s main domestic rival.
Elevating Gantz without meaningfully reconsidering US support for Israel, however, is a “meaningless” gesture that will fail to stop abuses against Palestinians, rights advocates told Al Jazeera.
“You have the Biden administration supposedly expressing its displeasure against the Israeli government to an opposition politician instead of doing what it should be doing … which is ending all forms of US weapons transfers to Israel,” said Josh Ruebner, an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University’s Justice and Peace programme.
Ruebner added that Netanyahu may be “peeved” by Gantz’s visit to the US capital, but not so much as to push the Israeli prime minister to change his government’s policies towards Gaza.
Netanyahu will not feel like he is losing US support “unless and until” the threat of sanctions by Washington is on the table, Ruebner told Al Jazeera. “Only that is really going to compel a change in Israel’s behaviour and policies and genocidal actions.”
‘Biden’s subdued revenge’
US officials often deny interfering in the internal political affairs of other countries, including Israel.
Pressed on Monday on whether Washington believed high-level talks with Gantz were appropriate, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller highlighted that the Israeli politician is a member of the country’s war cabinet.
Gantz also has spoken to top US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, several times since the war in Gaza began on October 7, Miller said.
“We find him an important figure inside the Israeli government to engage with and – given the number of issues that we have currently that we are in discussion with the government of Israel about,” he told reporters. “For our purposes, it’s an important meeting to have.”
Gantz, a former top general, joined Israel’s war cabinet after the violence in Gaza broke out. He previously led a centrist political bloc that failed to unseat Netanyahu in several elections.
Although he is in the government that is conducting the war on Gaza, which has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, Gantz remains a de facto opponent of Netanyahu and a favourite to succeed him, according to recent public opinion polls.
I met with Benny Gantz of Israel today and reiterated our support for Israel’s right to defend itself. We discussed the need to get a hostage deal, increase the flow of aid into Gaza, and protect civilians. pic.twitter.com/IB6C6qZRFo
On the US side, Gantz’s visit came amid a growing number of reports about Biden’s supposed irritation with Netanyahu as the Gaza war grinds on.
Netanyahu has been openly defying Washington’s requests and policy pronouncements, including by rejecting a two-state solution to the conflict.
Still, the Biden administration has ruled out withholding aid or weapons transfers to Israel to apply pressure on its top ally to better align with US priorities. In fact, the White House is working with Congress to secure more than $14bn in additional assistance to Israel.
Khalil Jahshan, executive director of the Arab Center Washington DC think tank, described Gantz’s reception in the US as “Biden’s subdued revenge against Netanyahu”.
“It doesn’t mean a damn thing in the final analysis,” Jahshan told Al Jazeera, adding that the Biden administration is “playing games” in the context of internal Israeli politics but failing to change its support for the war.
Netanyahu was not pleased that Gantz held meetings in Washington, DC, according to Israeli and US media reports this week.
An unidentified official from the prime minister’s right-wing Likud Party told the Associated Press news agency that Gantz’s trip was unauthorised by the government. The official added that Netanyahu had a stern talk with the minister, stressing that Israel has “just one prime minister”.
But analysts stressed that despite his differences with Netanyahu, Gantz should not be seen as a moderate alternative when it comes to Israel’s policies towards Palestinians – and Gaza in particular.
Jahshan noted that Gantz, a general who led the Israeli military’s 2014 war on Gaza, is not a “peacemaker”; he shares the Israeli government’s goal of eliminating Hamas, whatever the cost may be for Palestinians.
“Biden and Gantz may be concerned with mitigating the effects of the [current Gaza] war, but they are not concerned with Palestinians or ending the war,” he said.
Gantz’s talks
Jahshan added that Gantz’s visit also served as an opportunity for the Biden administration to reassert its unconditional backing of Israel.
In her meeting with Gantz, Vice President Kamala Harris “reiterated US support for Israel’s right to defend itself in the face of ongoing Hamas terrorist threats, and underscored our unwavering commitment to Israel’s security”, the White House said in a statement on Monday.
For its part, the Pentagon said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin “requested Minister Gantz’s support in enabling more humanitarian assistance and distribution into Gaza” during their meeting.
Israel has been blocking humanitarian aid deliveries from entering Gaza and reaching hard-hit areas, deepening shortages of food, water and medicine.
At least 16 children have died of starvation and dehydration over the past two weeks in the north of the territory, according to health officials.
“Pleading, asking nicely, engaging in PR stunts like dropping 38,000 meals to the Gaza Strip is not going to prevent the mass starvation that Palestinians are expected to face and reverse the reality that Palestinian children are literally being starved to death right now,” said Ruebner, the lecturer.
“These are meaningless words in the context of a closed-door meeting with an Israeli politician who is not a key figure in this particular Israeli government.”
Sandra Tamari, the executive director of the Adalah Justice Project, an advocacy group, echoed that assessment.
She stressed that the US must use its leverage – the aid and weapons it sends to Israel – to pressure the Israeli government to allow enough humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
But instead, she said, Biden is doing everything in his power to “give the illusion” that he is working towards ending the war while continuing to arm Israel and provide it with diplomatic cover at the United Nations.
“By hosting Gantz, the Biden administration can give this idea that somehow Netanyahu is the only problem, and it’s not the whole system that is to blame,” Tamari told Al Jazeera.
The concept behind the Michigan protest was simple: Cast a vote for the “uncommitted” option in the Democratic primary, instead of supporting United States President Joe Biden.
But the backlash at the ballot box has since become a national movement, with key races in the Super Tuesday primaries revealing strong showings for “uncommitted” voters in other states too.
The idea, activists say, is to send a message that Democratic voters will not tolerate Biden’s unequivocal support for Israel’s war in Gaza. And that message appears to be gaining steam.
Last week, over 101,000 Michigan residents cast “uncommitted” ballots in the Democratic primary, for around 13 percent of the vote. This week, on Super Tuesday, Minnesota saw nearly 19 percent of its primary votes go to the “uncommitted” category — an even higher ratio of voters, despite the last-minute nature of the state’s protest.
That comes on top of similar efforts in Super Tuesday states like North Carolina and Massachusetts to rebuke Biden at the ballot box. The results mean that 11 Minnesota delegates, alongside two from Michigan, will represent the protest at the Democratic National Convention in August.
But the numbers alone do not tell the whole story, according to Arshad Hasan, a Democratic strategist. He explained that the best indicator of the movement’s growing power is in the type of voters who selected “uncommitted”.
They large comprise a broad coalition of both Arab and Muslim Americans – overlapping but diverse groups – as well as other racial minorities and progressives.
“The issue is all of these people comprise the activist class within the Democratic Party,” Hasan told Al Jazeera. That “class” acts as a driving force to motivate others to vote: “Those activists are needed to mobilise all of their networks and their communities.”
“It matters that this is actually an organised movement in some states and not just random,” he said. “That means these are people who move people. And Biden needs people who move people among his base.”
A last-minute protest pays off
Biden is facing tough reelection prospects: A March poll from the New York Times and Siena College found the Democratic president trailing his Republican adversary Donald Trump, 43 to 48 percent.
Experts say he needs every vote he can muster in key battlegrounds like Michigan and Minnesota, where races can come down to narrow margins.
That makes Super Tuesday’s results all the more striking. Asma Mohammed, the lead organiser for the “uncommitted” campaign in Minnesota, said the effort surpassed expectations despite few resources and a limited time frame.
She told Al Jazeera the effort had just $20,000 to reach voters. “We had eight days and a few really passionate people,” she explained. “And I think a few passionate people made a lot of difference.”
While organisers had set their sights on attracting 5,000 “uncommitted” votes, they received nine times that number: Over 45,000 voters cast uncommitted ballots on Tuesday.
Smaller margins have decided recent presidential races in states like Michigan and Minnesota. Under different circumstances, Mohammed added, those voters could be mobilised in Biden’s favour.
But Mohammed said she refuses to back a president who supports Israel’s war, which has elicited fears of genocide and famine in the Gaza Strip. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed so far, though Biden has downplayed those numbers.
“As someone who has organised Democrats for the better part of my adult life, it makes my job harder when the president uses genocidal rhetoric,” she said.
Mohammed said she too was buoyed by the diversity of voters backing the protest vote. The number of “uncommitted” voters in Minnesota far outpaced the proportion of Muslim residents in the state — which hovers around one percent.
The largest number of “uncommitted” votes came from the Minneapolis area, which has a large Somali American population. But Mohammed pointed out that predominantly white areas also expressed robust support for the “uncommitted” movement.
Northern St Louis County, for instance, is 92 percent white and saw 15 percent of Democratic primary votes go to “uncommitted”.
“This is a multiracial, multiethnic, multicultural, multifaith coalition of people who are saying, ‘We do not want to be funding a genocide,’” Mohammed said. “And we want our president to listen now.”
Challenging the narrative
The Super Tuesday results were applauded in the nearby state of Michigan, another key battleground in the presidential race. The state is often credited as the birthplace of the 2024 protest vote.
Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, celebrated the Super Tuesday tallies on social media. “The pro peace/pro justice/pro democracy movement is growing and making waves,” he wrote.
He pointed not only to the Minnesota results but also to high margins in states like North Carolina, where 12 percent of voters selected “no preference”. Massachusetts, meanwhile, had more than nine percent of its Democratic primary voters pick “uncommitted”.
But many in Michigan were hesitant to pin their hopes on outside races. February’s Michigan primary, they argued, offered a unique opportunity, given the state’s large Arab and Muslim populations and strong history of political organising.
Speaking during an online forum shortly after Michigan’s vote, former congressional staffer Abbas Alawieh warned against the narrative that a lacklustre performance in future races might discredit the “uncommitted” movement.
“We need to keep the focus on Michigan, because the effort here was unique and because Michigan is a key state that Biden needs to continue paying attention to,” Alawieh said.
A leader in the Listen to Michigan movement — one of the organisations behind the state’s “uncommitted” vote — he predicted members of the media would say, “This uncommitted thing picked up steam in Michigan but then lost steam in Minnesota and lost steam in Washington.”
— #ListenToMichigan (@Listen2michigan) March 6, 2024
‘Cut into the Democratic base’
But the Super Tuesday races quickly dispelled fears that the “uncommitted” movement would fall into irrelevancy.
Hassan Abdel Salam, a professor who studies Islamic law and human rights at the University of Minnesota, attended an election-night watch party in Minneapolis, one of the state’s largest cities. A supporter of the “uncommitted” cause, he described the mood as “electric”.
“It definitely exceeded my expectations, despite the fact that I’ve been working on this,” Abdel Salam said. “I didn’t know that we would be able to basically cut into the Democratic base in such a significant way.”
Abdel Salam is also among the leaders of the Abandon Biden campaign, a movement that goes one step further than the “uncommitted” protest. Its members not only refuse to support Biden in the primaries but also in the general elections.
He told Al Jazeera that the group’s leaders were still discussing who to endorse in the general election, but it would almost certainly be a third-party candidate.
Minnesota labour organiser and “uncommitted” voter Ben Caswell, meanwhile, said that Biden still had a path to earn back his vote, provided he change his approach to Israel’s war.
“My vote’s still winnable. I think Trump’s an actual worst-case scenario for the country,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Biden, if he was not supporting a genocide right now, I think that it would be a pretty easy sell for me to vote for him. I just have lost so much faith in him and in the Democratic Party,” Caswell continued.
“I think there are a lot of winnable votes if he changes course, and I hope to God that he does.”
Hasan, the Democratic strategist, agrees that Biden can still bring back some of the supporters he lost to the “uncommitted” movement. But that support hinges on a complete ceasefire in Gaza.
Speaking to the New York Times following the Super Tuesday primaries, Biden campaign spokesman Lauren Hitt sought to reassure voters in Minnesota and elsewhere.
Biden, she said, “shares the goal for an end to the violence and a just, lasting peace in the Middle East. He’s working tirelessly to that end.”
Hasan believes Biden still has a path to victory, even if he does alienate swathes of voters with his Israel policy. But he warned that the Democratic Party needed to acknowledge the shifting political landscape that the “uncommitted” campaign brought to light.
“The dynamic here is something that maybe Democratic politicians aren’t used to,” he said. “They’re maybe not used to seeing Palestinians, Arab Americans and the base of the progressive Democratic Party that support them … [be] really well organised and politically powerful.”
The United States says it is not pressuring Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry to step down amid a fresh wave of violence and soaring instability in the Caribbean nation, where powerful gang leaders are demanding Henry’s resignation.
During a news conference on Wednesday afternoon, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington is “not calling on him [Henry] or pushing for him to resign”.
However, Miller told reporters that the US is urging Henry “to expedite the transition to an empowered and inclusive governance structure that will move with urgency to help the country prepare for a multinational security support mission”.
That mission, which has the backing of the United Nations but has been stalled for months, will then “address the security situation and pave the way for free and fair elections” in Haiti, Miller said.
His comments come after the Miami Herald reported early on Wednesday that the State Department had asked Henry to agree to a new transitional government and resign amid the growing crisis in Haiti.
A surge in gang violence that began at the weekend — and included attacks on police stations and raids on two prisons in the capital of Port-au-Prince — has displaced tens of thousands of people and effectively paralysed the city.
A 74-year-old neurosurgeon, Henry was sworn in as Haiti’s prime minister in July 2021, less than two weeks after President Jovenel Moise was assassinated. Moise had chosen Henry for the post shortly before he was killed.
The assassination worsened months of political instability in Haiti, and gang violence soared in the resulting power vacuum.
Meanwhile, Henry — who long enjoyed the backing of the US and other Western powers, including the so-called Core Group of nations — faced a crisis of legitimacy from the very start of his tenure.
Some Haitian civil society groups had urged him to hand power over to an inclusive, transitional government, a move they argued would help stem the gang violence and widespread insecurity plaguing the country.
Henry rejected that demand, but said he was seeking unity and dialogue. He also repeatedly said that elections could not be held until it is safe to do so.
But that angered many people across Haiti, including armed gang leaders who over the past few years have used pressure tactics – including fuel terminal blockades – in an effort to force him to resign.
Current crisis
The situation escalated when Henry left Haiti last month to attend a four-day summit in the South American country of Guyana organised by a regional trade bloc known as the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM).
While Henry did not speak to the media, Caribbean leaders said that he promised to hold elections in mid-2025. A day later, coordinated gang attacks began in Haiti’s capital and beyond.
Henry then departed Guyana for Kenya last week to meet with President William Ruto and to push for the UN-backed deployment of a Kenyan police force, which a court in the East African country ruled was unconstitutional.
Officials never said when the prime minister was due back in Haiti following his Kenya trip, and his whereabouts were unknown for several days until he unexpectedly landed in Puerto Rico on Tuesday.
In the meantime, the Haitian government declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew as the country’s already overwhelmed and ill-equipped police force tried to stem the surge in gang violence.
Haitian gang leader Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier has warned of ‘civil war’ if Henry doesn’t step down [Ralph Tedy Erol/Reuters]
Schools and shops have closed in Port-au-Prince — where gangs are believed to control about 80 percent of the city — and 15,000 Haitians have been forced to flee their homes in recent days, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The head of a powerful Haitian gang alliance known as G9, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, also warned that “if Ariel Henry doesn’t resign, if the international community continues to support him, we’ll be heading straight for a civil war that will lead to genocide”.
At UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield echoed Miller at the State Department when she was asked if Washington had urged Henry to step down.
“What we’ve asked the Haitian prime minister to do is move forward on a political process that will lead to the establishment of a presidential transitional council” to allow for elections, Thomas-Greenfield told reporters.
“We think that it’s urgent … that he moves forward in that direction and start the process of bringing normalcy back to the people of Haiti.”
‘No quick fix’
Jake Johnston, a senior research associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC, and expert on Haiti, said it is “no surprise” that the US government is denying reports that it is asking Henry to resign.
“But what they are saying they are asking Henry to do is likely to result in his resignation, because nobody is making a political deal that keeps him in power,” Johnston wrote on X.
Emmanuela Douyon, a Haitian rights advocate and analyst, also wrote in a social media post that “there is no quick fix for such a profound and protracted crisis”.
“It’s urgent to act to save lives, protect the population, restore peace, and reinstate democratic order. This necessitates addressing not only the activities of gangs but also tackling corruption and criminal activities, including collusion with gangs within political and economic elites,” she said.
“To guide this process efficiently and keep it as short as possible, we need capable and credible leaders, some political consensus, and a significant amount of political will. It is imperative to ensure that forthcoming elections are inclusive, free, fair, and credible.”
#Haiti.-There is no quick fix for such a profound and protracted crisis. Picking another “puppet” won’t help. It’s urgent to act to save lives, protect the population, restore peace, and reinstate democratic order. This necessitates addressing not only the activities of gangs but… pic.twitter.com/v4pE1jKMjH
— Emmanuela Douyon 杜鳶 🇭🇹 (@emmadouyon) March 6, 2024
South Africa warns Palestinians in Gaza are facing starvation, asks court to order all parties to cease hostilities.
South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order additional emergency measures against Israel over its war on Gaza, the court has said.
In its application, South Africa warned that Palestinians in Gaza were facing starvation and asked the court to order that all parties cease hostilities and release all hostages and detainees.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the South African presidency warned that the people of Gaza cannot wait.
“The threat of all-out famine has now materialised. The court needs to act now to stop the imminent tragedy by immediately and effectively ensuring that the rights it has found are threatened under the Genocide Convention are protected,” it added.
South Africa also asked to court to order that Israel take “immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address famine and starvation” in Gaza.
It said that the ICJ, also known as the World Court, should take these measures without scheduling a new round of hearings because of the “extreme urgency of the situation”.
Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rule on emergency measures against Israel following accusations by South Africa that the Israeli military operation in Gaza is a state-led genocide [File: Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters]
Famine looms
The United Nations has warned that widespread famine in the Gaza Strip is “almost inevitable” without action.
Aid organisations have blamed military operations, insecurity and extensive restrictions to the delivery of essential supplies for the shortage of food in the enclave, which has been under an Israeli siege and assault since October.
The five-month war has killed more than 30,000 people in the strip, according to health officials in Gaza.
At least 20 people have died from malnutrition and starvation in Gaza since Israel launched its assault, Palestinian authorities have said.
The number of humanitarian aid convoys entering Gaza daily must at least double to meet some of the population’s most basic needs, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday.
“I would say that we need to double the level we have now. We are now at around 150 trucks. We need a minimum of 300 trucks a day coming in,” Carl Skau, deputy executive director and chief operating officer at the World Food Programme, told the Reuters news agency.
“But of course, that also in the longer run needs to be supplemented with commercial [supplies].”
In January, the ICJ ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians, after South Africa accused Israel of state-led genocide in Gaza.
Israel described the allegation as baseless.
The request on Wednesday is the second time Pretoria has asked the court for additional measures – its first request to pressurise Israel to halt an offensive against the Gaza city of Rafah in February was denied.
A final ruling in the case in The Hague could take years.
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