World 10 Ashburton Guardian
www.guardianonline.co.nz
Friday, November 11, 2016
■ UNITED STATES
Trump elicits fears, cheers World leaders struggled yesteresday to come to grips with a new reality – Donald Trump will be the next US president – and an as yet unanswerable question: How many of his campaign pledges will he actually act on? The remarkable triumph of the politically untested businessman was welcomed in some countries, such as Russia, while in others it was a major shock. When Trump takes office in January, world leaders will confront a man whose stated views represent a sharp break with US foreign policy orthodoxy. He has cosied up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, warned stunned Nato allies they will have to pay for their own protection, floated a ban on Muslims entering the US and vowed to make the Mexican government finance a multibillion-dollar border wall. These changes, and others, have the potential to radically remake US policy – a prospect that has given stability-loving partners a cascading case of the jitters. Trump’s victory was hailed in Russia, which has taken an increasingly aggressive stance toward the West in recent months. Putin sent Trump a congratulatory telegram yesterday and made a televised statement expressing the hope that frayed US-Russian relations could be put back on track. “We are aware that it is a difficult path, in view of the unfortunate degradation of relations between the Russian Federation and the United States,” the Russian leader
Kim traumatised Kim Kardashian West has seen a therapist every day since she was gagged and robbed at gunpoint in Paris last month. The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star has been having daily counselling sessions to help her get over the incident because she keeps experiencing flashbacks and nightmares. A source told Us Weekly magazine: “She’s [Kim has] been having nightmares and flashbacks. She’s talking to a therapist every day, usually via Skype, phone or in person.” The 36-year-old beauty is refusing to leave her home which she shares with her husband and their two children. Faith Attaguile, from Encinitas, yells chants with others on the corner of Broadway and Front Street, in downtown San Diego, during a protest in opposition of Donald Trump’s presidential election victory. PHOTO AP said, adding: “It is not our fault that Russian-American relations are in such a state.” Russia became a focal point during the presidential campaign, with government officials and Hillary Clinton supporters suggesting Moscow was involved in hacking her campaign’s emails. Trump raised eyebrows when he expressed admiration for Putin and his tough leadership style, and some Clinton backers questioned Trump’s business dealings with Russia. Dmitri Drobnitski, a columnist at the generally proKremlin website LifeNews, asserted Trump’s victory will
help the world. “I congratulate the American people with their will and with their democracy and with their strength and with their courage,” he said. “So this is not only a victory for the Americans, who defended their democracy against the liberal, global elite – no, this is a victory that the American people brought to the whole world.” There is anxiety in Europe among Nato allies who are waiting to see if Trump follows through on suggestions the US will look at whether they have paid their proper share in considering whether to come to their defence.
Trump’s win also caused trepidation in Mexico, where his remarks calling Mexican immigrants criminals and “rapists” were a deep insult to national pride. Trump has suggested slapping a 35 per cent tax on automobiles and auto parts made by US companies in Mexico, and financial analysts have predicted a Trump win will threaten billions of dollars in cross-border trade. Trump’s victory is “as close to a national emergency as Mexico has faced in many decades,” Mexican analyst Alejandro Hope said. - AP
■ HAITI
■ SYRIA
Mothers-to-be struggle in ruins
Village hit
Nathanaelle Bernard was two months short of the due date for her first child when Hurricane Matthew crashed through her town overlooking the Caribbean Sea along Haiti’s southwestern coast. The storm, with its 145mph winds, destroyed her small home of cinder blocks. Powerful waves carried away most of her belongings, including the clothing and blankets she had managed to collect for her baby. She’s now anxiously awaiting the birth amid the ruins of her town, with even food and fresh water scarce. “I always had this dream my child wouldn’t want for anything,” the 19-year-old said on a recent morning, her face glowing with sweat as she cradled her swollen belly. After a pause, she added: “It was a nice dream.” She shares a makeshift hut with five members of her extended family and her precarious situation is emblematic of
Nathanaelle Bernard, who is 7 months pregnant, eats a bowl of corn meal with bean paste, while sitting outside a makeshift hut in Coteaux, Haiti. PHOTO AP an alarming situation across Haiti’s southwestern peninsula in the wake of the storm. The UN Population Fund says nearly 14,000 women are due to give birth in the next three months amid widespread shortages of meat, clean water and housing in an area where poor sanitation has created ideal conditions
for cholera and other diseases. Even in the best of times, pregnancy and childbirth is risky in Haiti. The Haitian government, with international assistance, has implemented programmes that have helped reduce the maternal death rate by nearly half over the past decade. - AP
Syrian activists are blaming the US-led coalition for an early morning airstrike yesterday that killed at least 20 civilians in a part of Syria held by the Islamic State group. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 20 people were killed and around 30 wounded in the strike on the village of Heisha. The village is north of the extremist group’s de facto capital, Raqqa. A local media collective said 23 civilians were killed. US Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for the US-led forces, said the coalition had conducted strikes in the area but could not confirm whether there were civilian casualties. “More information is needed to conclusively determine responsibility,” he said. The international force is flying dozens of sorties in the region in support of a US-backed push by Syrian Kurdish forces on Raqqa. The Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces say they have committed 30,000 fighters to the offensive. - AAP
‘It’s time to live’ Paul Henry says Duncan Garner has one foot in his grave already, but he’s happy to let him have it. Henry took to Facebook to thank his fans and explain the reason he’s leaving, citing simply being over 2.30am alarms. “We have done amazing things, I have loved being a huge part of this show,” he says. “You guys have been fantastic because as I’ve said multiple times: if it weren’t for you this whole thing would just be a joke. It’s been fantastic but it’s been hard work and I just can’t keep getting up in the middle of the night,” Henry said.
Brand’s daughter Mabel Russell Brand has named his newborn daughter Mabel. The 41-year-old comedian and his fiancée Laura Gallacher welcomed their little girl into the world and, although they want to raise her as a gender neutral, have picked out the sweet moniker for her. The funny man told the audience at his gig at the Nottingham Playhouse, East Midlands, over the weekend that he had to rush off after the show to get back to Laura and their new baby. Fan Daniel Crann, 29, said: “He didn’t confirm if it was a girl or a boy. He was conscious of the clock and made sure he was off stage by 9pm as he ‘needed to get down the M21 as my girlfriend has just had a baby’.”