DNT-Pick Liz Truss becomes next UK Prime Minister

THIS JUST IN – Described as “Thatcherism on steroids,” Liz Truss has emerged out of a crowded field to become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

The 46-year-old Conservative MP for South West Norfolk beat fellow finalist and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak in the final head-to-head match-up with a lower-than-expected 57% of the final vote tally.

It may be recalled that on July 7, DNT after a critical analysis of almost ten aspirants to succeed Boris Johnson predicted Liz Truss to emerge the eventual winner.

The long awaited result was announced earlier today at a packed QEII Center in Westminster. The final vote tally gave Truss 81,326 against Sunak’s 60,399.

Liz Truss has held a wide range of cabinet roles, including as environment and justice secretaries. Although she backed Remain in the 2016 referendum, Truss has become one of the staunchest defenders of Brexit, undergoing a conversion that many pro-leave MPs attribute to her leadership ambitions.

She is one of the favourites on the influential leadership rankings list run by ConservativeHome, the party’s popular grassroots website. Truss, who named one of her daughters Liberty, has sought to echo former prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s style.

Truss and outgoing leader Boris Johnson will travel to Balmoral in Scotland tomorrow in order to meet with Queen Elizabeth II, as per Britain’s unwritten constitution.

The Queen must formally approve the formation of a new government led by Truss. Normally, these meetings would take place quickly at Buckingham Palace, which is a short distance from 10 Downing Street, but the 96-year-old monarch will stay at her Scottish residence this time.

DNT News with Correspondence reports from Linda Wayoe

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China quake: Deadly tremor rocks Sichuan city in lockdown

At least 21 people have been killed after a 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit southwestern China, state media said.

The quake struck at 13:00 local time (05:00 GMT) in Sichuan province at a depth of 10km (6 miles).

The impact severed telecommunications lines and triggered mountain landslides that caused “serious damage”, local media reports say.

Some 21 million people in Sichuan’s capital Chengdu were earlier ordered to stay home because of Covid rules.

The epicentre of the quake was at Luding, a town in a remote mountain region located about 226km southwest of Chengdu, according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre.

Tremors shook buildings in Chengdu and the neighbouring mega-city of Chongqing, leaving roads blocked and cutting telecommunications lines in areas home to more than 10,000 residents, according to broadcaster CCTV.

The shocks also forced some power stations to shut down in the areas of Garze and Ya’an, the Chinese broadcaster said.

More than 500 rescue personnel have been despatched to the epicentre, while workers laboured to clear roadblocks caused by landslides, according to state broadcaster CGTN.

Chengdu residents reported seeing people running out of their high-rise apartments in a panic after receiving earthquake alerts on their phones.

“There were many people who were so terrified they started crying,” Laura Luo, an international PR consultant, told news agency Reuters.

When the shaking began, “all the dogs started barking. It was really quite scary”.

“Some of my neighbours on the ground floor said they felt it very noticeably,” Chen, a resident of Chengdu, told AFP news agency.

“But because Chengdu is currently under epidemic management, people aren’t allowed to leave their residential compounds, so many of them rushed out into their courtyards.”

Chengdu is the latest city to be locked down by Chinese authorities on Friday, in an attempt to stem the rise in Covid cases.

The latest disaster comes months after a 6.1-magnitude earthquake tore through Sichuan in June. Sichuan is a earthquake-prone area, as it lies along the eastern boundary of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.

The latest disaster also called into memory an 8.0-magnitude quake which hit Wenchuan county in northwest Sichuan in 2008, which killed 70,000 and caused widespread destruction.

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Afghanistan: Russian embassy staff killed in Kabul bombing

Two Russian embassy staff are among at least six people killed in a suicide bombing in the Afghan capital Kabul, Russian and Taliban officials say.

Guards shot the attacker dead as he approached the entrance to the consular section, officials said.

A number of other people are reported to have been wounded. No group has said it carried out the bombing.

The attack is the first on a foreign mission in Afghanistan since the Taliban swept to power in August 2021.

Earlier, a Taliban official said at least 10 people had been injured. Russia’s state-owned news agency RIA reported that a diplomat and an embassy security guard had been wounded.

Other media reports put casualty figures higher.

It was not immediately clear who would want to target Russia’s interests in Afghanistan, or whether the bombing – the latest in a spate of attacks in Kabul and elsewhere – may have been aimed at undermining Taliban security reassurances.

“This morning, an explosion took place at the Russian embassy in Kabul – four people and two employees of the Russian embassy were killed, and a number of Afghans were injured,” a statement from the Taliban police chief’s spokesman in Kabul said.

It added the suicide bomber had been spotted by Taliban personnel guarding the embassy as he approached people gathered in front of the building.

“He was identified by security and targeted, which caused a blast,” the spokesman said.

Russia’s foreign ministry said “an unknown militant set off an explosive device near the entrance to the consular section”.

“Without any doubt, we are talking about a terrorist act, which is absolutely unacceptable,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

Russia is one of the few countries to maintain a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan. Moscow does not officially recognise the Taliban’s government – no country does. However the two sides have discussed possible Afghan purchases of commodities like wheat, gas and oil from Moscow.

Violence in Afghanistan has greatly declined since the Taliban returned to power – under its 20-year campaign to drive US-led forces from Afghan soil many attacks were carried out by Taliban militants themselves.

However security has been deteriorating in recent months. A string of deadly bomb blasts has mainly targeted mosques and minority communities, many claimed by the militant Islamic State (IS) group who see the Taliban as not radical enough.

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Tennis Legend, Margaret Court Takes A Swipe At Serena Williams

Tennis legend Margaret Court has broken her silence over the drama surrounding the ‘GOAT’ debate with the recently-retired Serena Williams, claiming the US star has ‘never admired her’ despite the fact she holds the record for most Grand Slam titles.

The 80-year-old is considered by many to be the greatest female player of all time (GOAT) after winning 24 slams and a total of 192 titles in an illustrious career.

Williams retired just one slam short of Court’s record, though bizarrely claimed in the lead-up to the US Open that she’d ‘already broken the record’, citing the fact 13 of Court’s wins came in the amateur era.

The Aussie has previously declined to comment on Williams’ assertion that she in fact was the greatest female player of all time, but enough was enough on Sunday.

When Williams bowed out of the US Open, and tennis altogether, last week; stars of all walks of life, be they movie, tennis or icons like Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama rushed to congratulate her on being the ‘greatest of all time’.

It was a rush of content unparalleled for a female athlete, with even US Open organisers flashing up ‘greatest of all time’ on the electronic tickers at the stadium.

Again, this is despite Court winning the most Grand Slams.

When you take into account her entire record at the Major events – singles, doubles and mixed – Court has won 64 matches to Williams’ 39, a huge difference between the pair on the biggest of stages.

Yet Court, and her outstanding record, have been completely glossed over and almost airbrushed from history over the past decade or so.

Margaret Court holds the Australian Open trophy, something she won 11 times, in 2020

This is likely due to her controversial and outspoken views, particularly after she tried to spearhead the vote against gay marriage being legalised in Australia, then announced she was boycotting Qantas because of their support for the LGBTQI+ community.

The Aussie tennis legend and Pentecostal Minister said she has copped ‘a lot of bullying’ over her beliefs; and while they are controversial and hurtful to many, they are not illegal, and certainly do not change what she achieved in tennis.

While fellow tennis great, and gay woman, Martina Navratilova called her views ‘frightening’, Court refuses to back down – and insists her beliefs should have no bearing on the ‘GOAT’ debate.

‘I became a Christian when I was No 1 in the world. You will never change me from that,’ she said.

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Famine knocking on Somalia’s door, UN warns

Famine is “at the door” in parts of Somalia, the UN’s humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, warned on Monday.

During a press conference in the capital, Mogadishu, he said he had concrete indications famine would occur in parts of south-central Somalia between October and December.

This comes after his visit to Baidoa in South-West state in Somalia – the area of the country worst-affected by the current drought ravaging East Africa.

After four failed rainy seasons, the city has seen an influx of people who have lost everything because of the on-going drought, which aid agencies estimate has caused the displacement of more than one million people and is the Horn of Africa’s worst in 40 years.

People in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia are struggling to put food on the table, as the UN World Food Programme has estimated that 22 million people in the region are at risk of severe hunger.

Many people have become displacedImage caption: Many people have become displaced

The causes of this crisis are complex and show no signs of getting better.

Climate change has been a key concern, while conflicts in Ethiopia and Somalia, along with the rise in food prices caused by the war in Ukraine, have only made matters worse.

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