WASHINGTON (AP) – Many residents of Republican-controlled states who voted for former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2020 believe they would be “better off” if their state seceded from the U.S., a new poll revealed. About 33% of Trump voters in so-called red states say they’d personally fare better if their state “became an independent country”, according to a Yahoo News/YouGov poll. That compares with 29% who believe they’d be “worse off” after secession. The remaining 38% are either unsure or see themselves faring “about the same” in a newly independent state. The margin was similar when Americans were asked how their state as a whole would fare after  The poll is the latest illustration of increasing political polarization and cultural division in American life. Half of Americans believe there will be another U.S. civil war in their lifetime and that the country will cease to be a democracy at some point, an earlier Yahoo News/YouGov poll showed in June.

 

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LONDON (Arab News) – Britain’s top Muslim lobbying group has said that the next prime minister needs to seriously tackle the “systemic” Islamophobia in the Conservative Party after “an alarming radio silence” from Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is standing down on Sept. 5. Zara Mohammed, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said that Johnson should have apologized to the Muslim community in his resignation speech last week, warning that there have been “no concrete steps” taken to deal with Islamophobia in the Tory party. Mohammed told Metro.co.uk that the MCB had recorded more than 300 instances of Islamophobia in the party since 2019, adding that the next prime minister “must represent everybody and they have to make sure that they do that fairly.” She said: “We’d like to see these new candidates actually take this issue seriously, because it is quite deep-seated.  “We found over 300 cases, as well as senior members of the party themselves complaining about the problem.” Recent controversies in the party include Conservative MP Nusrat Ghani reporting that her “Muslimness” was raised when she was fired as transport minister.

 

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PAPUA (Reuters) – Nine people were shot dead in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua in an attack believed to be perpetrated by armed separatists, police said on Saturday. Police in the provincial capital of Jayapura told local media the incident, the deadliest in recent years, occurred on Saturday morning in the remote highland area of Nduga. “It’s true there was an attack on civilians that resulted in 10 (people sustaining) gunshot wounds, nine of whom died,” Faizal Rahmadani, director of criminal investigation at the Papua regional police, told state news agency Antara. Authorities were investigating the incident but had prioritized evacuating civilians, he said. Saturday’s attack comes days after protests about a new law that will see the region divided from two into five provinces, with the addition of South Papua, Central Papua and Highland Papua provinces.  Critics say the move will give Jakarta more power over the far-flung, resource-rich region, where a low-level battle for independence has been waged since the area became part of Indonesia after a controversial United Nations-supervised vote in 1969.

 

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MEXICO CITY (AFP) – Fourteen people have been killed in a military helicopter crash in northwestern Mexico, the navy syas.  “A Black Hawk helicopter was involved in an accident, the cause of which is unknown at this time,” a statement said, AFP reported. It said the aircraft was carrying 15 people and the sole survivor was receiving medical treatment after the crash in the state of Sinaloa. The helicopter went down while carrying out unspecified operational activities, according to the statement, adding that an investigation would be carried out into the cause. The navy “mourns the death of those who lost their lives in this accident -- naval personnel, who in life showed their service and dedication to the nation,” it said. The crash was not believed to be linked to the capture Friday of a notorious drug kingpin wanted by the United States for the murder of a U.S. undercover agent, the navy said. Rafael Caro Quintero is accused by the United States of ordering the kidnap, torture and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985.

 

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COLOMBO (Al Jazeera) – The Sri Lankan parliament met on Saturday to begin choosing a new leader to serve the rest of the current term after the president fled abroad and resigned following mass protests over the country’s economic collapse. Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena promised a swift and transparent political process that should be completed within a week. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in on Friday as interim president until parliament elects a successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose term ends in 2024. Protesters in the crisis-hit island nation, however, insist the six-time prime minister too should step aside. The new president could appoint a legislator to replace Wickremesinghe. Nominations for the presidential post will be heard on Tuesday, the parliament’s secretary general Dhammika Dasanayake said during a brief session. If there is more than one candidate for the president, the legislators will vote on Wednesday.