The California lawmaker narrowly overcomes opposition from right-wing legislators to secure the speaker’s gavel.Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy has been elected speaker of the House of Representatives, overcoming the opposition of right-wing dissenters who had derailed for several days his bid to lead the chamber. It took 15 rounds of voting for McCarthy to secure the House’s gavel, securing 216 of the 428 votes cast late on Friday. The Democrats’ Hakeem Jeffries got 212 votes. “My father always told me, it’s now how you start, it’s how you finish,” McCarthy told cheering fellow Republicans in his first speech. “Our system is…
Author: National Tone
Sydney, Australia – CBT Holidays, a Sydney-based tour company, hopes the reopening of China’s borders will revive Australia’s tourism sector after a year of “surviving”. The tour company lost access to its biggest market in 2020 when Australia and China both slammed their borders shut in response to the emergence of COVID-19. For much of 2021, CBT Holidays, which focuses on package tours to China, ceased operations altogether due to a lack of customers. Despite Australia reopening to visitors in February 2022 and the efforts of many tour operators to pivot to domestic tourism, business stayed at a crawl for…
United States President Joe Biden has presented 14 people with the country’s second highest civilian honour, in recognition of their efforts to “defend the integrity of our elections”. The award ceremony was held on Friday to mark the two-year anniversary of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, when protesters attempted to violently disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election. For the first time in his presidency, Biden awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal, a distinction established in 1969 to pay tribute to those who “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens”. It is the…
The Los Angeles Kings have re-assigned defenceman Brandt Clarke to the Ontario Hockey League’s Barrie Colts, the NHL team said Friday. .acf-block-preview .instagram-twitter-container width: 340px; margin: 0 auto; Clarke and Team Canada took down Czechia 3-2 in overtime in the gold-medal game at the World Junior Hockey Championship on Thursday. He finished the game with two assists on both the opening and game-winning goals. Overall at the tournament, the former 2021 eighth-overall pick notched two goals and eight points, leading all Canadian defencemen in points. The 19-year-old has made nine appearances with the Los Angeles Kings so far this season…
World No 1 Carlos Alcaraz will miss the Australian Open because of a leg injury.The 19-year-old Spaniard, who won his maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open in September, revealed he suffered a muscle injury in his right leg during pre-season training. Writing on social media Alcaraz said: “It’s time to deal with another blow. When I was at my best in pre-season, I picked up an injury through a chance, unnatural movement in training.”I’d worked so hard to get to my best level for Australia but unfortunately I won’t be able to play the Care A2+ Kooyong [warm-up…
India remains a relative ‘bright spot’ in the world economy, but weak exports are expected to hamper its growth.India’s government expects economic growth to slow in the financial year that ends on March 31 as pandemic-related distortions ease and pent-up demand for goods levels out going into 2023. Gross domestic product (GDP) will likely rise 7 percent in the current fiscal year compared with 8.7 percent the previous year, the Ministry of Statistics said. It put manufacturing growth at just 1.6 percent. The preliminary overall projection is lower than the government’s earlier forecast of 8 percent to 8.5 percent but…
The Taliban administration has denounced Britain’s Prince Harry for his admission of killing 25 people while on military duty in Afghanistan, and a senior Afghan official has accused the royal of killing innocent civilians. “We checked and found that the days on which Prince Harry is mentioning the killing of 25 mujaheddin, we did not have any casualties in Helmand,” Taliban leader Anas Haqqani told Al Jazeera on Friday. “It is clear that civilians and ordinary people were targeted.” “This story is a part of the many war crimes of the 20 years of Western military presence in Afghanistan,” he…
Nicky Henderson has reported that Shishkin “flipped his palate” in a piece of work this week and will need 10 days off while the problem is resolved.While the procedure is not a major one, a new plan for the rest of the season will now need to be mapped out. Having won his first 10 completed starts over obstacles, Shishkin has been beaten in his last two outings – pulling up in last season’s Champion Chase and finishing a distant third behind Edwardstone on his reappearance in the Tingle Creek at Sandown. Following his most recent eclipse, Henderson stated his…
Montreal Canadiens rookie defenceman Kaiden Guhle will be sidelined for at least eight weeks with a lower-body injury, the team announced Friday. .acf-block-preview .instagram-twitter-container width: 340px; margin: 0 auto; Guhle has been out of the lineup since Dec. 29 after getting tangled up with Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov. The 16th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, Guhle has produced two goals and 14 points in 36 games with the Canadiens this season. The team also announced that forward Brendan Gallagher will be out of the lineup for a minimum two weeks with a lower-body injury. .acf-block-preview .instagram-twitter-container width:…
Volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island erupting just weeks after it stopped releasing lava from a previous eruption.The Kilauea volcano in Hawaii has begun erupting less than one month after it and its larger neighbour Mauna Loa stopped releasing lava from a previous eruption. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said it detected a glow in webcam images, indicating Kilauea had begun erupting on Thursday inside Halemaumau crater at the volcano’s summit caldera. Kilauea’s summit is inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and away from residential communities. Earlier on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey raised the alert level for Kilauea due to signs…