Asharq Al-Awsat

Australia Will Do 'Anything We Can' to Stop US Execution Being Shown Online, Says PM

Australia will do whatever it can to stop the "completely abhorrent" livestreaming of the execution of a US prisoner from being available to view in the country, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday.

Nidal Hasan's execution -- scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood, Texas, where he gunned down 13 people in 2009 -- is set to be the first by a US military firing squad since 1945.

A Pentagon official told AFP last week the execution would be streamed live, after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said "we'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public."

Albanese told national broadcaster ABC he had a "social responsibility" to stop it being shown.

"I do not know why anybody would want themselves to watch such an event, let alone sit back and allow potentially kids and families to get access to this," Albanese said.

Australia's internet regulator has said it does not have the power to prevent the execution from being shown online.

Albanese said it was "not as simple as turning off a light switch".

But he said his government would make clear to social media companies that "this has no place in our country".

"If there is anything we can do, we will do, I assure you of that."

Albanese's Environment Minister Murray Watt also said he found the plans "absolutely disgusting".

Plans for Hasan's execution to be shown online have drawn broad revulsion both in the United States and internationally.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said "the livestreaming of an execution is tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture".

In Australia, the issue has prompted rare consensus across the political spectrum in opposition.

Far-right lawmaker Barnaby Joyce described it as "Roman amphitheater stuff", while Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young called for regulators to stop the execution being shown in Australia.

Macron: French Navy Boards 'Shadow Fleet' Ship in Indian Ocean

The French navy boarded a vessel suspected of illegally smuggling oil in an operation off the Indian Ocean island of Reunion, President Emmanuel Macron said Monday.

Macron vowed no let-up in the struggle against the "shadow fleet" -- a term used for the clandestine network of ships used by Russia to circumvent Western embargoes since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, AFP said.

"This morning, more than 450 nautical miles south of Reunion, our national Navy boarded the tanker DF Peak," Macron posted on X along with a brief video of the operation.

Several European companies have intercepted ships carrying Russian oil in contravention of European sanctions, as they try to target the vital revenue source.

The DF Peak flies a Benin flag and is among the 700 ships on the EU's sanctions list. Prior to 2024, it was called Kaliningrad.

New measures permit European Union members to sell the oil or any other cargo seized from the ships.

Moscow has bristled at the moves, with Russian President Vladimir Putin calling it "piracy and banditry".

The French president's announcement comes amidst European concern regarding the future of the war in Ukraine, following US President Donald Trump's announcement Friday that he had negotiated the delivery of Russian diesel to US and global markets, much to the dismay of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who condemned the breach of US sanctions as "shameful."

For its part, the European Union has pledged to continue strengthening its own measures against Moscow, and its foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, stated on Saturday that the lifting of sanctions on Russian diesel was helping to fuel the Kremlin's war.

Trump Attacks Immigrants from Somalia and Haiti While Rallying in Ohio for Republican Candidates

President Donald Trump on Monday tried to boost Sen. Jon Husted’s reelection campaign by attacking two groups of Black immigrants during a rally in Ohio, where an organization with Republican ties began promoting a socialist candidate over Democratic nominee Sherrod Brown.

Trump also gave a shoutout to Rep. Max Miller, the Republican congressman who refused to stop running for reelection after facing accusations of domestic abuse, pointing him out in the audience, The Associated Press said.

“Thank you, Max, for coming,” Trump said. “Thank you. Very good.”

Trump focused, however, on a favorite issue — immigration. Trump has long targeted Minnesota's large population of Somali immigrants and on Monday he linked that group to Haitians in Springfield, Ohio. During a presidential debate two years ago, Trump falsely accused the latter group of eating pets. Referencing those allegations Monday, Trump said “I was right” and boasted that Haitians were being driven out of the country by his administration's policies.

“If you want to stop Ohio from being plundered, ransacked and destroyed like Minnesota is being destroyed, we’re going to stop it,” Trump said. “Just like we did with Springfield, we’re going to stop it, we’re not going to let it happen.”

Trump's remarks came on the same day Homeland Security agents searched the Washington of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Somali immigrant who represents a Minnesota district.

The president visited Youngstown less than a week after rallying in Dayton. The intense focus on Ohio, a state Trump won by 11 percentage points, shows the challenging environment Republicans are navigating in the midterms amid the Iran war and lingering inflation. In addition to the Senate contest, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy is locked in a close governor's race with Democrat Amy Acton.

The rally was also a reminder of the extent Trump is willing to go to boost his allies — he announced a new submarine component manufacturing center will be located in nearby Cleveland during the rally — and his persistent focus on Black immigrants.

Back in 2018, Trump privately complained immigrants from countries like Haiti — using an expletive to describe them — and wondering why the United States couldn't get more migrants from places like Norway. The statement was condemned as racist and Trump denied making it at the time.

But Trump admitted using the phrase last year, and his second administration has focused on restricting immigration and barring any refugees except white South Africans.

During the rally, he celebrated what he contended was an exodus of Haitians out of Springfield. The Trump administration ended a program that allowed more than 350,000 Haitians to stay in the country legally, which some of the roughly 15,000 Haitians who arrived in Springfield, population 60,000, in recent years.

“They're getting their town back,” Trump said the original residents of Springfield, as he also stood by his debunked statement at the 2024 presidential debate that the Haitians were eating local pets. That claim was based on a secondhand post whose author deleted it and apologized, saying she had no evidence it was true.

Trump devoted even more time to insulting immigrants from Somalia, where he claimed that people were “low IQ” and “don't have pants to wear.”

Trump's main goal was to boost Husted, who was appointed to replace Vice President JD Vance in the Senate in 2024 and faces a tough challenge from Brown, a longtime senator who lost his seat to Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024.

Levy condemned the fliers for falsely impersonating his campaign and engaging in “dirty tricks” designed to mislead voters. He said he is considering legal action.

“This is a highly undemocratic practice and does a disservice to voters in Ohio and throughout the country,” he wrote on X.

According to Federal Election Commission filings, Enough Promises Ohio was founded Sept. 29. It has not yet had to disclose its contributors, but additional federal filings lay out a trail of associations linked to Republicans.

Enough Promises paid the firm Seven Farms more than $397,000 on two dates last week for printing, postage and mail services either supporting Levy or opposing Brown. Seven Farms, also a new entity, lists as its address the same South Carolina business suite as the one used by Whistlestop Strategies LLC.

Whistlestop is a direct mail outfit operated by Big Dog Strategies LLC, the strategy firm that advises Trump's MAGA Inc. super PAC and that managed Moreno's successful campaign against Brown in 2024.

Enough Promises Ohio and Big Dog did not respond to requests for .