New Zealand’s ruling Labour Party chose former COVID minister Chris Hipkins on Sunday to replace the charismatic Jacinda Ardern as its new leader, and become the next prime minister of the country.

Hipkins, 44, was the only nomination for the job and his confirmation at a party meeting on Sunday, known as the Labour caucus, was largely a formality.

His appointment to the top job followed the surprise resignation on Thursday by Ardern, who said she had “no more in the tank” to lead the country.

“This is the biggest privilege and biggest responsibility of my life,” Hipkins said at a news conference announcing his appointment. “I am energised and excited by the challenge that lies ahead.”

Hipkins immediately acknowledged the leadership of Ardern, who he called one of New Zealand’s greatest prime ministers and an inspiration to women and girls everywhere.

“She gave voice to those often overlooked in times of challenge and purposefully went about doing politics differently,” Hipkins said.

But some of the hate Ardern faced during her term is a reminder that “we’ve got a way to go to ensure women in leadership receive the same respect as their male counterparts”, he added.

Known as “Chippy”, Hipkins built a reputation for competence in tackling COVID-19 and was a troubleshooter for Ardern when other cabinet ministers were struggling.

First elected to parliament in 2008, he became a household name fronting the government’s response to the pandemic. He was appointed health minister in July 2020 before becoming the COVID response minister at the end of the year.

Hipkins named Carmel Sepuloni as deputy prime minister, New Zealand’s first deputy prime minister of Pacific origin.

Sepuloni, 46, is of Samoan, Tongan and New Zealand European decent and lives in Auckland. She holds a number of portfolios, including social development and employment and arts, culture and heritage.

Hipkins said the rest of his team would be announced later.

Hipkins said he has seen the media focus on Ardern’s personal life, and wants to keep his two young children and his family out of the limelight.

He said a year ago he and his wife decided to live separately. “She’s still my best friend but we have made that decision in the best interest of our family.”

Local polls have shown Hipkins was the most popular potential candidate among voters. While Ardern was popular early in her five and a half year tenure, her ratings have slid on a backlash to strict COVID curbs, rising living costs and mortgage rates, and concerns about crime.

Hipkins has a tough road ahead with Labour trailing the opposition in opinion polls and the country expected to fall into recession next quarter before a general election on Oct. 14.

Hipkins acknowledged that he was taking on the job at a challenging time, and said his government will focus on “bread and butter issues”.

“Over the coming week the cabinet will be making decisions on reining in some programmes and projects that aren’t essential right now. We will be focused on middle and low income New Zealanders and the small businesses that are (finding) it tough to get by,” he said.

The economy is in sound shape, he said.

“Our books and our economy are in a better shape than many around the world and we are absolutely resolved to help the New Zealanders through these tough economic times,” he said.

Before Hipkins becomes prime minister, Ardern will tender her resignation to King Charles’ representative in New Zealand, Governor General Cindy Kiro. Kiro is to appoint Hipkins to the role and he will be sworn in. Hipkins said he will be sworn in on Wednesday.

China reported almost 13,000 deaths related to COVID-19 in hospitals between January 13 and 19, adding to the nearly 60,000 in the month-or-so before that, as its experts say the wave of infections across the country has already peaked.

The death toll update, from China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, comes amid doubts over Beijing’s data transparency and remains extremely low by global standards.

Hospitals and funeral homes have been overwhelmed since China abandoned the world’s strictest regime of COVID controls and mass testing in early December, which had caused significant economic damage and stress.

That abrupt policy U-turn, which followed historic protests against the curbs, unleashed COVID on a population of 1.4 billion that had been largely shielded from the disease since it emerged in the city of Wuhan in late 2019.

The death count reported by Chinese authorities excludes those who died at home, and some doctors have said they are discouraged from putting COVID on death certificates.

China on Jan. 14 reported nearly 60,000 COVID-related deaths in hospitals between Dec. 8 and Jan. 12, a huge increase from the 5,000-plus deaths reported previously over the entire pandemic period.

Spending by funeral homes on items from body bags to cremation ovens has risen in many provinces, documents show, one of several indications of COVID’s deadly impact in China.

Some health experts expect that more than one million people will die from the disease in China this year, with British-based health data firm Airfinity forecasting COVID fatalities could hit 36,000 a day this week.

As millions of migrant workers return home for Lunar New Year celebrations, health experts are particularly concerned about people living in China’s vast countryside, where medical facilities are poor compared with those in the affluent coastal areas.

About 110 million railway passenger trips are estimated to have been made during Jan. 7-21, the first 15 days of the 40-day Lunar New Year travel rush, up 28% year-on-year, People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official newspaper reported.

A total of 26.23 mln trips were made on the Lunar New Year eve via railway, highway, ships and airplanes, half the pre-pandemic levels, but up 50.8% from last year, state-run CCTV reported.

The mass movement of people during the holiday period may spread the pandemic, boosting infections in some areas, but a second COVID wave is unlikely in the near term, Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Saturday on the Weibo social media platform.

The possibility of a big COVID rebound in China over the next two or three months is remote as 80% of people have been infected, Wu said.

Russia increased shelling of Ukraine’s eastern regions outside the main front line in the Donbas industrial area, officials from the Zaporizhzhia and Sumy regions said on Saturday.

* A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Kyiv’s allies to “think faster” about stepping up their military support, a day after they failed to agree on sending battle tanks coveted by Kyiv.

* A tearful Zelenskiy attended a memorial service to commemorate seven senior Interior Ministry officials killed in a helicopter crash, a fresh blow to a nation already grieving its many war dead.

* Germany’s new defence minister Boris Pistorius plans to visit Ukraine soon, he told a German newspaper, as Berlin faces pressure to allow the shipment of German-made tanks to Ukraine.

* Senior U.S. officials are advising Ukraine to hold off on launching a major offensive against Russian forces until the latest supply of U.S. weaponry is in place and training has been provided, a senior Biden administration official said.

* The United States will impose additional sanctions next week against Russian private military company the Wagner Group, which U.S. officials say has been helping Russia’s military in the Ukraine war, the White House said.

* The head of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, published a short letter to the White House asking what crime his company was accused of, after Washington announced the new sanctions.

* Wagner plans to send the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers killed in fighting in the captured town of Soledar to territory held by Ukraine, a website linked to founder Prigozhin reported.

* Western countries are working to structure price caps on Russian refined petroleum products to ensure continued flow of Russian diesel, but the markets are complicated and there is a chance things do not go to plan, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

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By Nandita Bose and Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—A new search of President Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, on Friday by the U.S. Justice Department found six more items, including documents with classification markings, a lawyer for the president said in a statement Saturday night.

Some of the classified documents and “surrounding materials” dated from Biden’s tenure in the U.S. Senate, where he represented Delaware from 1973 to 2009, according to his lawyer, Bob Bauer. Other documents were from his tenure as vice president in the Obama administration, from 2009 through 2017, Bauer said.

The Department of Justice, which conducted a search that lasted over 12 hours, also took some notes that Biden had personally handwritten as vice president, according to the lawyer.

The president offered access “to his home to allow DOJ to conduct a search of the entire premises for potential vice-presidential records and potential classified material,” Bauer said.

Neither Biden nor his wife were present during the search, the attorney said. Biden is in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for the weekend.

Justice Department investigators coordinated the search with Biden’s lawyers ahead of time, Bauer said, and the president’s personal and White House lawyers were present at the time.

Other classified government records were discovered this month at Biden’s Wilmington residence, and in November at a private office he maintained at a Washington, D.C., think tank after ending his tenure as vice president in the Obama administration in 2017.

On Saturday, Bauer did not make clear in his statement where in the Wilmington home the documents were found. The previous classified documents were found in the home’s garage and in a nearby storage space.

The search shows federal investigators are swiftly moving forward with the probe into classified documents found in Biden’s possession. This month, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland named a special counsel to probe the matter.

Special counsel Robert Hur, who was appointed during the process, is investigating how the president and his team handled Obama-era classified documents that were recently found in Biden’s private possession.

Biden’s lawyers found all the documents discovered before Friday’s search by the DOJ, according to the White House. The latest search was the first time federal law enforcement authorities have conducted a search for government documents at Biden’s private addresses, according to information released publicly.

Republicans have compared the investigation to the ongoing probe into how former President Donald Trump handled classified documents after his presidency. The White House has noted that Biden’s team has cooperated with authorities in their probe and had turned over those documents. Trump resisted doing so until an FBI search in August at his Florida resort.

The search escalates the legal and political stakes for the president, who has insisted that the previous discovery of classified material at his home and former office would eventually be deemed inconsequential.

Biden said on Thursday he has “no regrets” about not publicly disclosing before the midterm elections the discovery of classified documents at his former office and he believed the matter will be resolved.

“There is no there, there,” Biden told reporters during a trip to California on Thursday.

Since the discovery of Biden’s documents, Trump has complained that Justice Department investigators were treating his successor differently.

“When is the F.B.I. going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House?” Trump said in a social media post earlier this month.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose, Matt Spetalnik, Steve Holland and Joel SchectmanEditing by Nick Zieminski and David Gregorio)

The post Feds Discover More Classified Docs in Biden Home Following 12 Hour Search appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

New Zealand’s ruling Labour Party on Sunday selected Chris Hipkins to replace Jacinda Ardern as its leader and the 41st prime minister of the country.

Hipkins, 44, was the only nomination for the job and his confirmation in a party meeting on Sunday, known as the Labour caucus, was largely a formality.

His appointment to the top job followed the surprise resignation on Thursday by Ardern, who said she had “no more in the tank” to lead the country.

“This is the biggest privilege and biggest responsibility of my life,” Hipkins said announcing his appointment. “I am energised and excited by the challenge that lies ahead.”

Hipkins named Carmel Sepuloni as deputy prime minister, New Zealand’s first deputy prime minister of Pacific origin.

Known as “Chippy”, Hipkins built a reputation for competence in tackling COVID-19 and was a troubleshooter for Ardern when other cabinet ministers were struggling.

First elected to parliament in 2008, he became a household name fronting the government’s response to the pandemic. He was appointed health minister in July 2020 before becoming the COVID response minister at the end of the year.

Sepuloni, 46, is of Samoan, Tongan and New Zealand European decent and lives in Auckland. She holds a number of portfolios, including social development and employment and arts, culture and heritage.

Hipkins said the rest of his team would be announced later.

Before Hipkins becomes prime minister, Ardern will tender her resignation to King Charles’ representative in New Zealand, Governor General Cindy Kiro. Kiro is to appoint Hipkins to the role and he will be sworn in. Hipkins said he will be sworn in on Wednesday.

Russia increased shelling of Ukraine’s eastern regions outside the main front line in the Donbas industrial area, officials from the Zaporizhzhia and Sumy regions said on Saturday.

Russia’s defence ministry said a recent offensive had put its army’s units in more advantageous positions along the Zaporizhzhia front line, a claim Ukrainian military officials called an exaggeration.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.

Since an aggressive Ukrainian counteroffensive in late August, fighting has concentrated in Donbas, which includes most of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions that are partly controlled by Russia and which Moscow claims to have annexed.

After invading its neighbour on Feb. 24, Russia has attacked other parts of Ukraine’s east but failed to capture them. The intensified shelling comes as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other Ukrainian officials have said Moscow would likely attempt a new offensive in the coming months.

Russian’s attacks seek to overload Ukraine’s defences and deter Kyiv from retaking territory, officials and analysts say.

“Attempting to study our defence, the enemy has activated artillery fire,” Oleksandr Starukh, governor of the Zaporizhzhia region of southeastern Ukraine, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia fired on the region 166 times through the day, he said, with 113 attacks aimed at populated areas, killing one civilian. Russia says it does not target civilians.

Countering Moscow’s claim of recent advances, Yevhen Yerin, a military spokesperson in Zaporizhzhia, told the Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne, “At the moment, they have not captured anything. All their attempts have been repulsed and the enemy has suffered losses.”

The Ukrainian military’s General Staff said Russia continues its offensive in Zaporizhzhia, increasingly using aviation. It said 25 settlements in the region were affected by Russian artillery fire on Saturday.

Russian forces launched 115 strikes in the Sumy region that borders Russia in Ukraine’s northeast, regional Governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky said on Telegram.

A 17-year-old was wounded and a number of houses and infrastructure buildings were destroyed, Zhyvytsky said.

Oleh Zhdanov, a military analyst in Kyiv, said the increased attacks in Sumy were a “test” by Russia. “This is not their first attempt,” Zhdanov said in a social media video, adding that the attacks were repelled.

CNN has been in the news a lot lately. This might be because of their inability to fix what is broken. The network is sitting at number three in the ratings, the bottom of the barrel in cable news. But it isn’t just coming in last. In shocking news, the network’s ratings have dipped so low it’s a wonder they’re still on the air.

This Monday, it was reported that CNN reached its lowest ratings yet. They have actually dipped below 315,000 viewers. It’s shocking. On average, the ratings for CNN were around 311,000 nightly viewers.

Making matters worse for the network, both MSNBC and Fox easily surpassed an average of one million viewers. Does CNN SEE this? Do they care? Many say they do not know what to make of this. From what I’ve seen, the network is still cheerfully behind Chris Licht, who recently gave the higher-ups a PowerPoint presentation.

It is tough to imagine CNN rising to the top anytime soon. Heck, they do not seem to average a half million nightly viewers. What in the world is wrong with them? The reason for some of their problems is that they set out to lure Maga’s eyeballs to the channel. Of course, many in media land live in a bubble. They do not understand Maga.

Maga will not watch CNN just because they fired a few liberal pundits and had Jake Tapper do a bit extra. The only possible way to corral Maga would have been to fire all liberals, hire only alt-right crazes and never say anything on camera that interferes with Maga’s belief system.

Even CNN cannot go that far. But it’s the only way. See, CNN is clueless. They actually appeared to think they were dealing with members of a political party, not a cult. Licht left Twitter shortly after accepting his new position at CNN, saying Twitter wasn’t real life.

In a way, it isn’t. But in terms of understanding extremists, it is very much real life and the fact that Licht does not or did not understand this, shows clearly that he’s wrapped in cotton padding and not tuned into the real world. I hope CNN can right the ship. It is not looking like there’s a rescue boat in sight.

The post CNN is falling to pieces appeared first on Palmer Report.

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

• Sens. Lindsey Graham, Richard Blumenthal, and Sheldon Whitehouse were in Kyiv on Friday.
• After meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Graham urged the West to send tanks.
• “Putin is trying to rewrite the map of Europe by force of arms,” Graham said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham urged the US and Germany to send tanks to the Ukrainian military during a visit to Kyiv on Friday, as Western defense officials meeting in Germany failed to agree on sending the weapons.

The South Carolina Republican visited Ukraine along with Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. The three lawmakers, who have been supportive of sending additional aide to Ukraine, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“All three of us, one Republican and two Democrats, share the same goal — for Ukraine to drive the Russians out of Ukraine. To achieve that goal, the Ukrainian military needs tanks,” Graham said during a press conference after the meeting and on Twitter. “I am tired of the shit show surrounding who is going to send tanks and when are they going to send them. Putin is trying to rewrite the map of Europe by force of arms. World order is at stake.”

Graham’s request came as American and German defense officials have been unable to agree on sending battle tanks to Ukraine. Kyiv has called for NATO and other European countries to send German-made Leopard 2 tanks, but doing so requires Germany’s approval, as Insider’s Jake Epstein previously reported.

—Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 20, 2023

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said he does not want to authorize sending the German-made tanks to Ukraine unless the US sends its own tanks, according to several reports. Kyiv has also called on the US to send powerful M1 Abrams tanks, but President Joe Biden has avoided doing so.

Western defense officials who met in Germany on Friday failed to come to an agreement on the matter, sparking criticism from officials in Ukraine and Poland. But officials from both the US and Germany suggested the latter may still authorize the Leopards to be sent and that in the meantime Germany would do an inventory of its own tanks. Poland has also said it may even send its Leopard tanks to Ukraine without Berlin’s approval.

“To the Germans: Send tanks to Ukraine because they need them. It is in your own national interest that Putin loses in Ukraine,” Graham said Friday. “To the Biden Administration: Send American tanks so that others will follow our lead.”